(School Mass): Friday, January 21, 2005

+ Feast of St. Agnes (Virgin & Martyr)

When I was in high school, my best friend and I went out camping. One day during our trip, we were out fishing when it began to rain. By the time we got back to our tent, it was dark. We had no dry firewood. We had to hunt around in the rain and wet woods until we found some dry wood on the inside of a hollow log. It was no fun getting that fire started. We were soaked to the skin… it was cold… and worst of all, it was dark. Nothing was more welcome than that fire, after we finally got it going. We started to dry out, warm up, and even laugh and joke around again as we cooked our dinner and settled into camp. That wonderful fire made all the difference in the world.

Maybe it’s no surprise that fire is one of the special symbols of the Holy Spirit. You probably remember how on the Feast of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came down on the apostles in the form of tongues of fire. When you think about how unhappy, cold and miserable your body can be without a fire—just like I discovered during my high school camping trip—then you can know how unhappy the apostles were before the Holy Spirit came to them and started a fire in their hearts. Just the way that a body needs fire, the soul needs fire, too!

As you boys and girls preparing for Confirmation certainly know, the Holy Spirit fills you with all kinds of special gifts to help you live out and defend your faith. The fire of the Holy Spirit strengthens you and gives you great courage to do that.

And if you want proof, all you have to do is look to the example of many of the saints.

Today, along with the whole Church, we celebrate the Feast of St. Agnes. She was a Roman girl who died in the year 304. She was just twelve years old when she suffered martyrdom for her faith. If she were here today, she’d be a girl in 6th or 7th grade. Think about that! When many girls that age get all upset and tearful because someone says something mean to them and hurts their feelings, Agnes was willing to die for Jesus rather than pretend that she wasn’t a Catholic.

A thousand years from now, nobody’s going to know who Hilary Duff or Ashlee Simpson was. No one’s going to care what songs Britney Spears or Gwen Stefani sang. But they’ll still be honoring St. Agnes. She has been well-known, popular, and admired for 1700 years.

What happened to Agnes? Very simply, she loved Jesus so much that she chose only Him for her husband. But since she was so beautiful, lots of young men wanted to marry her. She always would say, “No, Jesus is my only husband.” She even turned down the governor’s son, and he got very angry. He tried to convince her to marry him with fancy gifts and promises. Agnes kept telling him, “I am already promised to the Lord.”

Because he was so mad at her, he turned her in to the authorities and accused her of being a Christian—a crime punishable by death in those days. The governor said that he would forgive her and give many beautiful gifts if she would only deny God… but Agnes refused. Then the governor tried to scare her by having her bound in heavy chains, but even then she would not back down. Agnes suffered other tortures, too, and when she just wouldn’t budge, she was condemned and killed. And of course, she became a martyr and saint for Christ.

St. Agnes shows us how it’s possible to make a heroic decision and stick to it. She was able to do this because she centered her young life on Jesus. She asked the Lord for the strength to be true to her Catholic commitment, and her love for Christ gave her the strength and bravery she needed.

On this special feast day, let us also ask St. Agnes to pray to God for so we can also have a share of courage and love for Jesus. Amen!