St. Anthony the Abbot Catholic Church

Christ's resurrection enables us to grow in this triple peace because in the middle of this stormy, turbulent world, it gives us a firm anchor: our hope for life everlasting. We renew this hope every Sunday, when we pray the Creed. This has been exemplified through the centuries by the saints, and in a special way by the martyrs.

St. Ammon and his four companions were martyred back in the third century. They were Roman soldiers at the service of the Roman governor of the great city of Alexandria, in Egypt. Their martyrdom happened during the wave of persecution started by the emperor Decius, who forced all Christians to worship Roman gods under pain of death. Ammon and his companions, who were secretly Christians themselves, were on duty during a trial of prisoners accused of being Christians. The judge's interrogation was harsh and intimidating, and at least one poor Christian seemed to be wavering.

The five soldiers saw what was happening and were afraid that their brother in Christ was going to deny his faith, thus putting at risk his eternal salvation. So they began to make encouraging signs to him, gesturing, nodding, bulging their eyes - anything they could do without putting themselves into too much danger. But their efforts were so energetic that the judge couldn't help but notice. And when he inquired as to what was going on, the five soldiers broke ranks and declared themselves Christians. This disturbed the Roman officials and caused quite a ruckus, but it also renewed the courage of the prisoners.

In the end, both the prisoners and the Christian soldiers stayed faithful to Christ, suffering martyrdom instead of denying their Lord. The stormy persecution didn't steal their interior peace and lead them astray, because their anchor was firmly attached to the risen Lord.

Jesus comes to us in the sacraments and gives us a chance to recognize Him, to know Him, and to re-establish our friendship with Him again whenever we stumble or fall. Whenever we come to Mass, the first thing we do is the Penitential Rite, and when we encounter Our Lord by receiving the Eucharist, He keeps us from falling when we stumble and makes sure we stay on our feet.

Every time we come to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, whether we are stumbling, flat on the ground, even spiritually dead inside, He comes to us and pulls us back on our feet.

We have to help Him do that by opening our hearts, by loving Him and helping Him, by being sorry for what we’ve done. Otherwise, it’s like He’s trying to lift us up, and we’re trying to pull Him down onto the ground, or we just don’t want to get up.