17/10/2023
So touching!
Which of the points below really touches you about St. Ignatius of Antioch?
Saint Ignatius, the second bishop of Antioch after St. Peter, was sent to Rome to die, after being sentenced to death by being thrown to wild beasts. On his way to Rome, he wrote seven letters to various churches. Now, note a few things he had to say to his fellow Christian brethren, which I consider very touching:
(1). I write to assure you that I am truly and earnestly about to die for God if only you yourselves would not become an obstacle to me along the way.
(2). Pray, but leave me to be a meal for the beasts.
(3). I have already considered myself as God's wheat, well ground by the lions' teeth to be made purest bread for Christ.
(4). To die in Jesus Christ is better than to be monarch of earth's widest bounds.
(5). So, suffer me to attain to light that is pure and uncontaminated.
(6). Do not have Jesus on your lips, and the world in your heart.
(7). Even if I were to come to you in person and beg for assistance to stop this journey, please, do not yield to my pleading.
(8). I am yearning for death with all the passion of a lover.
(9). All I hear now whispering in my spirit or deep within me is a murmur of living water, saying: "Come to the Father".
(10). I want no more of what men call life.
(11). Intercede for me that I may have my wish granted.
(12). Note, I do not write to you as a mere man, but as one voicing the mind of God.
Happy memorial of St. Ignatius of Antioch, 17th October, 2023.