St.
Sebastian—January 20
St.
Sebastian died a martyr during the worst persecution of the early Church, under
the Emperor Diocletian. He was a soldier
in the emperor’s own Praetorian Guard and comforted those who were sentenced to
death. He was eventually discovered and
also sentenced to death. He was shot
through with arrows, but did not die. He
is often depicted with the arrows in his body and his arms tied behind his
back. Although left for dead, a saintly
woman came to bury him, but discovered he was alive and brought him back to
health. Once he was strong enough, he
came before the emperor and denounced him to his face for his cruelty to
Christians. He was then beaten to death
on the emperor’s orders. St. Sebastian
is the patron saint of archers, athletes (for his physical endurance), and of
soldiers. He is a model to us of courage
and faithfulness and standing up for truth in the face of great
opposition.
We also live
in a time of opposition to the truths of the faith: of the sanctity of life
from conception to natural death; of the sacredness of marriage as God intended
between a man and a woman; of the right to avoid government interference with
respect to freedom of religion. We are
often shot through with the arrows of false civil rights and absolute personal
autonomy. We need to pray for the
intercession of St. Sebastian for moral endurance and fortitude as we proclaim
the good news of love and steadfastly denounce Satan, the father of lies.
