Memorial of Saint Lucy, Virgin and Martyr, 2018

As the lives of martyrs Lucy, John the Baptist, Alphonsus Navarrete, Magdalene of Nagasaki, Andrew Dung-Lac, Edith Stein, Oscar Romero, and Pierre Claverie give witness, violence is assured as a member of the Body of Christ. Violence may not necessarily come in the form of martyrdom, yet, if one pours out compassion and mercy upon others in the ways of Christ, one may receive a harvest of resentment and hostility. Jesus knew the risk and He took this risk for the sake of love. As we celebrate the mysteries of the Incarnation in these Seasons of Advent and Christmas there is hope for new life even in the midst of suffering caused by the violence rooted in evil choices. This hope comes in the form of another kind of violence, and that violence is based upon the grace God gives us. Saint Oscar Romero said it best in a homily offered on November 27, 1977:

“The violence we preach is not the violence of the sword, the violence of hatred. It is the violence of love, of brotherhood, the violence that wills to beat weapons into sickles for work.”

(Compiled and translated by James R. Brockman, SJ, 1988)

The prophet Isaiah offers the Words of God to us all: “Fear not, I will help you.” If we could truly rely wholeheartedly upon this help, God’s Word, then what need we fear as we confront the violence of evil with the violence of compassion and mercy. The violence of love transforms hatred into love and the hardened heart into a heart that beats with the life-giving blood of mercy. Each of us is in need of God's help in rooting out any violence of evil concealing itself inside which hinders our freedom to love.