Readings
I - 2 Cor. 6: 4-10
II - Mat. 10: 17-22
ST. GONZALO GARCIA
Saint Gonsalo Garcia is the first canonised saint from India. He was born in the western coastal town of Vasai, Bombay, he preached from the Bassein fort during the time the town was under Portuguese colonial rule. Gonsalo Gracia longed to be a Jesuit but could not. He moved on to Manila, Philippines as a lay missionary. There he was influenced by a Franciscan priest and joined the Seraphic Order as a lay brother. After working with the leprosy patients there he was ordained as a Franciscan, Friars Minor at Manila.
In 1592, the Spanish governor in the Philippines sent Gonsalo on a diplomatic mission to Japan along with Fr. Baptista. After working for four years, the Japanese shogun suspected the missionaries of treason and so he placed them under house arrest in their monastery in Miaco, Kyoto in December 1596. A few days afterwards, when they were in prayers, they were arrested, enchained and immured. After torture and persecution, Garcia was crucified on Nagasaki Hills with twenty six of his companions. Fr. Gonsalo, was the first to arrive, went straight to one of the crosses and asked the persecutioners, "Is this mine?" They replied "It is not" and took him to another cross, where he knelt down and embraced it. His other companions, one after another, started doing the same. Garcia and his fellow martyrs were declared as Venerable by Pope Urban VIII in 1627. Garcia was declared a saint by Pope Pius IX in 1862.
In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus speaks about the persecution to be endured on account of his name and assures of the presence of God with them at the moment of their trial. We are not the first to face this, our saints and followers of Christ have left us examples in their lives. Have them as model and strive to live a Christian life. May St. Gonsalo Gracia help us in this effort as we keep invoking him in the silence of our hearts saying, “St. Gonsalo Gracia, Pray for us.”
