Witnesses for Christ

Today the Augustinian Order remembers all our Augustinian saints and blesseds. Fr. Alvin Paligutan OSA referred to them as "our very own saintly sisters and brothers who point us and lead us to the Way, the Truth and the Life – Jesus Christ." Let's pray that we may allow the same Holy Spirit that moved them to move us in our daily lives. Their lives is truly a call for all of us to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. The earthly life of these brothers and sisters "shows that holiness is not a luxury, it is not a privilege for the few, an impossible goal for an ordinary person; it is actually the common destiny of all men called to be children of God, the universal vocation of all the baptized (Benedict XVI)."

This day in 2009 we will celebrate a greater number of Augustinian blesseds because "on November 24, 2008, an Augustinian priest, our brother and a Servant of God Thomas “Kintsuba” Jihyoe of St. Augustine, together with 187 Japanese martyrs of the 17th century, will be beatified in Nagasaki, Kyushu, southern Japan. This will be the first ever beatification in Japan. Kintsuba, martyred in 1637, means “garnished in gold.” These 188 Japanese martyrs were killed between 1603 and 1639 in the Nagasaki area and other parts of Japan. Blessed Thomas was the first Japanese friar ordained to the priesthood in the Order, and his witness in life and in death is a source of inspiration for all followers of Jesus Christ" (Fr. Alvin Paligutan, OSA).

I'll conclude this post with additional words from our Holy Father: "Holiness is offered to all; naturally, not all the Saints are equal: in fact, as I said, they are the spectrum of divine light. Moreover, a Saint who possesses extraordinary charisms is not necessarily a great Saint. Indeed, there are a great many whose names are known only to God, because on earth they led an apparently perfectly normal life. And precisely these "normal" saints are those habitually desired by God. Their example testifies that only when we are in touch with the Lord can we be filled with his peace and his joy and be able to spread serenity, hope and optimism everywhere."

Posted by Carlos J. Medina