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Introduction (the introduction can be something about the martyrs taken from various websites. Below is an example.)
Today we celebrate the first canonized saint from the Philippines, St. Lawrence Ruiz. Accused of a murder he did not commit, Lawrence took refuge among the Dominicans and sailed with them to Japan. But it was a time of violent religious persecution in Japan and, soon after their arrival, the travellers were discovered to be Christians. They were arrested and taken to Nagasaki where, unwilling to renounce their faith, they were mercilessly tortured and put to death.
In Lorenzo's moment of crisis, he asked the interpreter, "I would like to know if, by apostatizing, they will spare my life." The interpreter was noncommittal, but Lorenzo, in the ensuing hours, felt his faith grow strong. He became bold, even audacious, with his interrogators.
The five were put to death by being hanged upside down in pits. Boards fitted with semicircular holes were fitted around their waists and stones put on top to increase the pressure. They were tightly bound, to slow circulation and prevent a speedy death. They were allowed to hang for three days. By that time Lorenzo and Lazaro were dead. The three Dominican priests, still alive, were beheaded.
Pope John Paul II canonized these six and 10 others, Asians and Europeans, men and women, who spread the faith in the Philippines, Formosa and Japan. Lorenzo Ruiz is the first canonized Filipino martyr.
Opening Hymn: The Galilee Song (Frank Anderson), or The Call (Iona Community)
Lord God, in our service to You and to
our neighbour give us the patience of the Holy Martyrs,
Reading I Job 3:1-3, 11-17, 20-23Job opened his mouth and cursed his day. Job spoke out and said: Perish the day on which I was born, the night when they said, "The child is a boy!" Why did I not perish at birth, come forth from the womb and expire? Or why was I not buried away like an
untimely birth,
Response Ps 88:2-3, 4-5, 6, 7-8
O LORD, my God, by day I cry out; For my soul is surfeited with troubles My couch is among the dead, You have plunged me into the bottom of
the pit,
In his homily in Manila on the occasion of the beatification of the martyrs in 1981, Pope John Paul II said:
Faith conquers the world. The preaching of this faith enlightens like the sun all who wish to attain the knowledge of truth. For, although there are different languages in the world, the Christian tradition remains one and the same. The Lord Jesus by his blood truly redeemed his servants, gathered from every race, tongue, people, and nation, to make them a royal priesthood for our God.
The example of Lawrence Ruiz reminds us that everyone’s life and the whole of one’s life must be Christ-directed. For this is what it means to be a Christian: to offer oneself daily in response to the gift of Christ, who came into the world so that all might have life and have it to the full.
The sixteen blessed martyrs, by the exercise of their priesthood—that of baptism or of holy orders—performed the greatest act of worship and love of God by the shedding of their blood, united with Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. In this way they imitated Christ the priest and victim in the most perfect way possible to human creatures. It was at the same time an act of the greatest love for their brothers and sisters, for whose sake we too are called to sacrifice ourselves, following the example of the Son of God who sacrificed himself for us.
PAUSE FOR QUIET REFLECTION & SHARING
CLOSING PRAYER: This prayer of St. Francis is prayed as a chant, with each person taking a line until the prayer is completed. Its theme is that even in the midst of the suffering of martyrdom, the saints praise God.
St. Francis of Assisi's prayer in praise of God
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Opening Prayer: