Wednesday, November 23, 2016

QUIETLY PRO

Wednesday of Week 34 in Ordinary Time
Feast of Blessed Miguel Pro, Martyr (among others;)

I am feeling the weight of a noisy world.  Maybe quiet will make a comeback?

Today is the Feast Day of Blessed Miguel Pro  (1891-1927).  Miguel grew up in Zacatecas, Mexico.  His family worked in the mines there.  After joining the Jesuits he was forced to leave Mexico under the religious persecution stemming from the 1917 constitution…which effectively outlawed the Church. When Miguel returned in 1926 because of his poor health most churches were closed and many priests had been killed.  The church operated underground at great risk.  He was falsely accused of an assassination attempt on the ex-president and executed without trial. 

The story then takes on its own life.  The government, hoping to intimidate stubborn Catholic agitators, spread photos of the execution.  They quickly became Holy Cards and had an emboldening effect.  In a quick reversal it then became a crime to have possession of the government-sponsored photos.




A quiet life of deep faithfulness became a loud…but not noisy…life of witness.

Loud but not noisy.
Born in quiet and reflection.
Sounds like a kind of vaccine.


“Viva Christo Rey” Miguel Pro’s last words before the firing squad

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