Pointed Response

I stumbled upon Saint Sebastian's grave yesterday--for some reason I hadn't come across him till now. Buried out by the catacombs where the early Church laid to rest so many of her early martyrs, Saint Sebastian holds the distinction of having been martyred twice.

A Roman soldier whose own nation couldn't accept his conviction, Sebastian's comrades followed the orders to restrain him and shoot him full of arrows. Sustaining the multiple injuries, he was discovered by Irene, a believer who had come to bury him, but instead nursed him back to health. Rather than taking advantage of his fortuitous escape, Sebastian then presented himself to the Emperor Diocletian, who the second time around had him beaten to death.

His body shared the same resting place as thousands of his fellow Christians who also had remained firm in their faith. The catacombs today, lengthy underground networks, point to the seed, buried in the darkness, that bears much fruit.

Today, January 20th, is his feastday--over 1,700 years later, we still turn to his witness for the same courage.