I especially like the saints we read about today in the book In Caelo et in Terra. Their names are Nereus and Achilleus, and that's most of what we know about them, along with the fact that they were brothers. We also know they were Roman soldiers and they were following the orders of the Roman government to persecute Christians until one day they BECAME Christians themselves. Then they were martyred for their faith.
We don't even know for sure which Roman Emperor was in charge when they died. But we do have an epitaph written in the fourth century that Pope Saint Damasus put together to remember them by.
You can read more about them here.
I like these saints for two reasons. One, they remind me of my patron saint. When I became Catholic, I chose the saint Socrates as my Christian name. The only thing we know about St Socrates is that he was martyred along with another Christian. I like the obscurity... the fact that all we know about them is that they believed in Jesus so strongly that they died for it.
The second reason I like them is they remind me of a character in my books. In my book The Tale of Amon, Amon is a Nazi. But he's a good person. He's being forced to follow the orders of Nazi Germany under penalty of death. And then a time traveler shows up on his submarine one day and everything changes.
A thousand years from now, will Christians read about your life? Will they find out that you loved Jesus as much as Sts Nereus and Achilleus?
God, thanks for the example of these two martyrs. Saints Nereus and Achilleus, pray for us.
1 comment:
Amen
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