When Fr. Albert and I were at the St. Paul Seminary there
was a priest in residence from Uganda named Fr. Charles Lwanga—named after our
saint today. This man brings back
great memories as he was full of joy, always laughed, expressed his gratitude
by frequently saying, “Thank you,” and could eat like a horse.
St.
Charles Lwanga faced persecution and eventual martyrdom from king Mwanga in the
latter part of the nineteenth century.
At first the king was tolerant of Catholicism, but an adviser convinced
him that Catholics would ruin his country as they refused to worship pagan
gods, would not fight and would not worship the king himself. Mwanga added to this the solicitation
of Charles and his companions for homosexual relations—which they of course
rejected.
Charles
faced martyrdom by being burned at the stake. He asked to have his hands untied and arranged the wood that
was burned to kill him. As he was
dying he repeated one simply phrase, “O God.”
Charles
followed the example of men and women like St. Paul who imitated Christ by
dying for the faith. In the Acts
of the Apostles Paul prepared for his journey to Jerusalem. He stated, “What will happen to me there I do not know, except
that in one city after another the Holy Spirit has been warning me that
imprisonment and hardships await me. Yet I consider life of no importance to me, if
only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received
from the Lord Jesus, to bear witness to the Gospel of
God’s grace.”
We,
too, are called to follow Christ like St. Paul, St. Charles and his
companions. It is worth
considering today—would I die for Jesus Christ and our Catholic Church’s
teachings?
St.
Charles and companions, pray for us!
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