Sts. Marcellinus and Peter
We don’t know very much about Marcellinus and Peter. We know that they were both executed in the year 304. We also know that they were so zealous in their faith that they converted their jailer and his family. It’s also said that their executioner converted to Christianity after their death.
Constantine erected a basilica over their tombs. They are mentioned in the first Eucharistic Prayer. That’s the long one that we hardly ever use.
Like all the martyrs, Marcellinus and Peter took the words of today’s Gospel very seriously: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. Giving up your life for God is definitely a sign that you love him totally.
But what about today’s Gospel? Scribes were the keepers of the laws in Jesus’ time. The scribe asks Jesus which commandment is first. In Jewish tradition there were 365 laws telling them what they couldn’t do and another 248 telling them what they must do. That’s 613 commandments and the scribe and Jesus both knew them all. But, Jesus boiled all 613 of them down into just two. Love God. Love your neighbor. Pretty simple.
But, sometimes doesn’t it seem like it might be easier to deal with the 613 rules than to get these two right? We say we love God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind and with all our strength. But, do we really? Oh, we try. We really try. But when we compare ourselves to people like Marcellnus and Peter we don’t measure up all that well.
Hopefully we’ll never have an opportunity to be martyrs. But you never know. There were more Christian martyrs in the 20th century than in the first 19 centuries combined. Most of today’s martyrs are in third world countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The most famous martyr of the 20th century was Maximillion Kolbe who died in a Nazi prison camp during World War II, when he volunteered to take the place of a young man with a family who was about to be executed.
We’re more likely to find ourselves in a situation where we have to chose between our faith and being embarrassed. For example, when we eat in a restaurant, do we make the sign of the Cross and say grace before the meal? I’ll admit that I don’t always do it. What if someone in the restaurant notices? What if they talk about us? What if they laugh at us? How embarrassing would that be?
What if it’s a Friday in Lent and our friends want to go out for a steak? What do we do? Stay home? Go with them and hope they don’t notice that we’re the only one eating fish? Or do we come up with some kind of compromise with ourselves? You know how that works. You tell yourself, “I’ll go ahead and eat meat today, but I won’t have any tomorrow.”
God knows that we’re human. He knows we’re going to fail sometimes, maybe even most of the time. But He loves us with a love that’s so deep and profound that we can’t even begin to understand it. He even sent His only Son to die for us.
Constantine erected a basilica over their tombs. They are mentioned in the first Eucharistic Prayer. That’s the long one that we hardly ever use.
Like all the martyrs, Marcellinus and Peter took the words of today’s Gospel very seriously: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. Giving up your life for God is definitely a sign that you love him totally.
But what about today’s Gospel? Scribes were the keepers of the laws in Jesus’ time. The scribe asks Jesus which commandment is first. In Jewish tradition there were 365 laws telling them what they couldn’t do and another 248 telling them what they must do. That’s 613 commandments and the scribe and Jesus both knew them all. But, Jesus boiled all 613 of them down into just two. Love God. Love your neighbor. Pretty simple.
But, sometimes doesn’t it seem like it might be easier to deal with the 613 rules than to get these two right? We say we love God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind and with all our strength. But, do we really? Oh, we try. We really try. But when we compare ourselves to people like Marcellnus and Peter we don’t measure up all that well.
Hopefully we’ll never have an opportunity to be martyrs. But you never know. There were more Christian martyrs in the 20th century than in the first 19 centuries combined. Most of today’s martyrs are in third world countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The most famous martyr of the 20th century was Maximillion Kolbe who died in a Nazi prison camp during World War II, when he volunteered to take the place of a young man with a family who was about to be executed.
We’re more likely to find ourselves in a situation where we have to chose between our faith and being embarrassed. For example, when we eat in a restaurant, do we make the sign of the Cross and say grace before the meal? I’ll admit that I don’t always do it. What if someone in the restaurant notices? What if they talk about us? What if they laugh at us? How embarrassing would that be?
What if it’s a Friday in Lent and our friends want to go out for a steak? What do we do? Stay home? Go with them and hope they don’t notice that we’re the only one eating fish? Or do we come up with some kind of compromise with ourselves? You know how that works. You tell yourself, “I’ll go ahead and eat meat today, but I won’t have any tomorrow.”
God knows that we’re human. He knows we’re going to fail sometimes, maybe even most of the time. But He loves us with a love that’s so deep and profound that we can’t even begin to understand it. He even sent His only Son to die for us.
posted by Mike at 9:28 PM
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