Optional Memorial of St. Lorenzo Ruiz, and Companions, Martyr

Brief Background:

St. Lorenzo Ruiz and Companions were a group of 16 martyrs—priests, religious, and laypeople—who were killed for their Christian faith in Japan between 1633 and 1637 during a period of intense persecution.

St. Lorenzo Ruiz was a Filipino layman, husband, and father of three from Manila. After being falsely accused of a crime, he left the Philippines with Dominican missionaries and eventually arrived in Japan, where they were arrested and tortured for refusing to renounce their faith. Lorenzo remained faithful to Christ and was martyred in 1637.

St. Lorenzo Ruiz is recognized as the first canonized Filipino saint and is especially honored as a patron saint of the Philippines and Filipino people, Filipino youth, overseas Filipino workers, altar servers, and those falsely accused.

REFLECTION:

Remember those Marvel movies, especially Spider-Man and the whole idea of the multiverse? Suddenly there isn’t just one Spider-Man. There are different Spider-Men from different universes—different lives, different stories, different possibilities. And the whole idea is kind of fascinating. Imagine if the multiverse were real. Somewhere there might be another version of you who made a completely different career choice, lived somewhere else, or took a different path in life. Some of you are probably thinking, “Can I trade places with that version of myself for just one week?”

But it raises an interesting question: If you had more than one life, what would you do with them?

Today, St. Lorenzo Ruiz gives us a powerful answer. As he faced martyrdom, he is remembered for saying: “I am a Christian and wholeheartedly do accept death for God; had I a thousand lives, all these to Him shall I offer.” Imagine that. Not two lives. Not ten. A thousand lives—and every one of them he would give to God.

That connects beautifully with Job in our first reading. Job loses almost everything—his possessions, his security, even his children. And in the middle of that terrible grief, Job says: “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” Job is not pretending that everything is okay. He grieves. He mourns. But underneath that grief is something powerful: “God, even now, my life still belongs to you.”

Then we come to the Gospel, and the disciples are arguing about which one of them is the greatest. You almost want to say, “Guys…Jesus is right there. Maybe don’t have this conversation in front of him.” But Jesus turns their whole idea of greatness upside down. Greatness is not about how much we have. Greatness is about how much of ourselves we are willing to give.

That is Job. That is St. Lorenzo Ruiz. And that is the invitation for us.

Most of us will probably never be asked to give our lives through martyrdom. But we are asked to give our lives to God every day.

When we forgive when we would rather stay angry—that is one little surrender. When we serve and nobody notices—that is another. When we choose patience when someone is really testing that patience—that is definitely another. When life doesn’t make sense, but we still pray, still come to Mass, still trust God—that is another.

Maybe holiness is not always one dramatic moment of giving everything to God. Maybe holiness happens through a thousand little surrenders over a lifetime.

We don't need a multiverse. We don't need a thousand different versions of ourselves. God has given each of us this one life.

And perhaps the challenge of St. Lorenzo Ruiz today is simply to pray: Lord, I don’t have a thousand lives to give you. I only have this one. But this one is yours.