Saturday of the 28 week in ordinary time (memorial of St. Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr)
I grew up in Poland and at that time when I was in high school there were not too many people from other countries and cultures in my town. All my friends were Polish, and our ancestors were Polish too. But when I came to Chicago, I was fascinated with the richness of the multicultural makeup of people here. What struck me so much was that people I was continually meeting were so proud of their roots. They would proudly say something like: I am Irish, or my ancestors came from Italy, I am Mexican, or my folks came from Lithuania, or I am Polish or German and so on. Yes, most of us are really proud of our origin. And today in the Gospel, Jesus reminds us that we should be proud of something else -- we should be proud of our Christianity, of our belonging to Christ. He reminds us today that: “I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God.” Sometimes I see people who, when walking by a church, they stop and then make the sign of the cross. Or I see people in a restaurant pray before their meal, or see others who while traveling look for a church on Sunday, just to make sure to be at mass. Simple things, but important. That’s how we Catholics acknowledge Christ before others.
