Ruminations of an Irascible Hermit.: The Ugandan Martyrs - witnesses to the truth and intercessors against immorality

Saturday, June 3, 2023

The Ugandan Martyrs - witnesses to the truth and intercessors against immorality

Today the Church gives us the Memorial of St Charles Lwanga & Companions, the Ugandan Martyrs.

Martyrs always fascinate me, as they challenge me in my faith. If I was in their situation, would I be able to face death peacefully and calmly without denying my faith in Christ? Would I be able to not fight back and to hate my persecutors, but love them and pray for them instead and even bless them?

And I always come to the challenge of asking myself, if I’m so inspired by these heroic figures, why can’t I follow their example in the little day to day struggles of my life? Why am I not able to control my temper or my patience or my lust or bitterness or my self control? If I can’t be faithful in those little daily battles, how can I ever hope to be steadfast if ever faced with the choice between death or denying my faith?

But the saints give me hope and I pray through their intercession that if I’m ever in that position that I will have the grace to persevere.

In todays society, it is progressively becoming more and anti-Christian. Things that 10 years ago would have been considered so absurd as to be laughed at and dismissed, are now being debated and advocated at the highest levels of society. Reality no longer appears to be an objective and truth is reduced to whatever is the appeal to the masses of the day.

But the martyrs were always hated for opposing error and refusing to compromise the truth. Recently we had the memorial of St Justin Martyr who is a Church Father abd refuses to offer sacrifice to idols. Now 2 days later we have St Charles Lwanga and companions.

You’ll hear it said about St Charles is how he was in the service of a King and he refused to cooperate in sexuality immorality. But what is interesting is that through his example, other servant boys were also refusing to be involved in sexual immorality as part of their “service” to the King. These same boys were also converting to the faith through the example of St Charles Lwanga who not only acted as a mentor to them, but he also catechised them and even baptised them! What a wonderful example of faith to us all!

He and his companions were martyred with other non Catholic Christians too, primarily Anglicans. And there is a shrine dedicated to them. Pope Paul VI visited this shrine after he canonised the martyrs and reflects on the strength of their faith, as a personal lived conviction and experience of Jesus. They were well formed in their catechism which strengthened their faith and of course the graces from their baptism bore fruit in their death - they died to the world but are alive in Christ.

May the collect for today speak to your heart and inspire you in whatever struggles you may be having today in your faith.

O God, who have made the blood of Martyrs
the seed of Christians,
mercifully grant that the field which is your Church,
watered by the blood
shed by Saints Charles Lwanga and his companions,
may be fertile and always yield you an abundant harvest.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.

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Disclaimer

Please note. I am a Catholic layman, not a qualified theologian or philosopher. What I say and write here are my own personal thoughts and ideas, although I always try to conform my writings to the Magisterium of the Church.

I- with firm faith believe and profess everything that is contained in the symbol of faith: namely,

I believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen. I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven: By the power of the Holy Spirit, he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered, died and was buried. On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. I believe in the one holy catholic and apostolic church. I acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

With firm faith I believe as well everything contained in God's word, written or handed down in tradition and proposed by the church--whether in solemn judgment or in the ordinary and universal Magisterium--as divinely revealed and called for faith.

I also firmly accept and hold each and every thing that is proposed by that same church definitively with regard to teaching concerning faith or morals.

What is more, I adhere with religious submission of will and intellect to the teachings which either the Roman pontiff or the college of bishops enunciate when they exercise the authentic Magisterium even if they proclaim those teachings in an act that is not definitive.