More Saints of the Day Who Rise, Like They All Do, Far Above the Ordinary

Today we celebrate two feastdays that compete for most-mind-boggling status. The suffering endured for the Faith by St. Isaac Jogues and Companions was gruesome to say the least, but their martyrdoms seemed to have secured enough grace to convert almost a whole Indian nation! The bravery of these men under the worst torture you can imagine rings through the ages! As the first North American martyrs, they hold a unique place in Catholic history.

The story of Sts Cyprian and Justina is amazing for its incredible drama. What a movie this would make! In less than a nutshell, St. Cyprian was a satanic paid assassin who was sent to work witchcraft on Justina for an evil Roman nobleman who was in love with her. She was a devoted Christian and had less than no interest in the nobleman, but finding herself assaulted by the powers of the devil, got busy with serious prayers and mortifications and ended up converting not only the nobleman, but Cyprian as well! This being under the reign of Diocletian, the story ends up as you might expect, bloody but glorious, with Justina and Cyprian both receiving the Heavenly crown.

I've been pondering the similiarities and differences in these great saints and their stories. They're separated by over a thousand years in time and a couple thousand miles in space. The antagonists were the worst kind of pagans, the heroes the best sort of Christians ~their fortitude and faith allowed them to make the ultimate sacrifice.

But, the thing that I think they really have in common is that with each of them, God must have said (in some words to this effect, though obviously Grander and in more Godlike vocabulary): This is one who gets it!

God help us, who suffer temptations in our own world that can just as easily cause us to lose our souls, to get it, too, and to understand the application and value of sacrifice in our lives.