Homily of Fr. Herbert
Nicholls
Listen! For the wisdom of God says, I will send prophets and apostles, some of whom they will persecute and
kill…from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, I tell you it will be
required of this generation.
Zechariah, priest, prophet, and father of St. John the
Baptist was stoned to death before the altar of holocausts in the Temple
because he accused the people and leaders of Israel of being unfaithful to God’s
Law.
Jesus severely rebukes the students and interpreters of the
Law who should have been the very ones to recognize Jesus as the Messiah,
however, the Gospels teach us the opposite. These scribes and Pharisees would
not allow the people to follow Jesus. They did everything to block His way. Is
this the role of those precisely influenced by Satan? Recall when Peter
attempted to block the way of Jesus. How did Jesus rebuke him? Get behind me, Satan.
One of the effects of our Redemption by Christ is His
victory over Satan. It was prophesied that the Messiah would crush the head of
the serpent. Being one with Christ we share in His victory and in His power.
It is true, despite the disbelief of many today, that the
devil is real and powerful and never ceases to search for an opportunity to
devour one of Christ’s disciples; but equally important to remember that he can
only operate within the limits which God has imposed upon him.
God is stronger than the devil. And we have no cause to be
afraid of him. Until this conviction is clearly and firmly rooted within us we
may feel threatened; but once we possess this conviction we are quite safe—in
the hands of God.
This does not assure us, however, of a life free of
suffering, persecution or even martyrdom which would be impossible to bear
without this conviction.
Let us look briefly at the example of the 350 Martyrs,
Disciples of St. Maron. These disciples were 6th Century monks
living in several monasteries throughout Northern Syria adjacent to Northern
Lebanon. They held strong ties to the Catholic faith, particularly to the
teaching of the Fourth Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon. This Council in 451
decreed that Our Lord Jesus Christ was one person, but having two distinct
natures, one divine, the other human. Despite the Dogma of the Council there
persisted the group called Monophysites—meaning one nature, namely the divine
nature. Without a human nature, the Son of God was not truly man, not born of a
human mother, could not die; so the sacrifice of Calvary was a sham.
Patriarch Severus embraced this monophysite heresy and
persecuted the monks, ordering 350 of them to be executed in the year 517AD.
When things settled down, several of the survivors presented
to Pope Hermisdas an affidavit testifying how the monks had been martyred under
the authority of Patriarch Severus. The Pope expressed his sympathy and urged
them to remain steadfast against persecution.
In 1734, Pope Clement XII bestowed an indulgence upon all
the Churches honoring the 350 Maronite monks. Pope Benedict XIV in 1740
declared the indulgence applicable to all Maronite Churches throughout the
world.
Unity is the work of the Holy Spirit. Division is the labor
of the evil one. Some people follow Jesus, enthusiastic about His message and
miracles; while others simply will not accept Him and do everything in their
power to dissuade others from following Him. They try in every way to discredit
Him in the eyes of the people.