Huronia

By John D. O'Brien, S.J.

Mosaic by Fr. Marko Rupnik, S.J., Canadian Martyrs Parish, Rome

You called, and we replied, and to our earthly comforts died,
To go and live with them.

You beckoned and we came, to live among the poor and lame.
In land of plenty, unrefined.

Martyrdom: Testifying to Love

canadianmartyrsparish.ca

This homily was preached at the Martyr's Shrine in Midland by Fr. Peter Bisson, Provincial of the Jesuits in English Canada, on Saturday, September 22, 2012, for the Feast of the Canadian Martyrs. The actual feast was celebrated this past Wednesday.

Thee hundred and sixty three years ago, here in this place, Christ did a new thing in North America. Just as His own identity was fully revealed in His death and resurrection, so too was His life made manifest here in the lives and deaths of Sts. Jean de Brebeuf, Isaac Jogues, Gabriel Lalement, Noel Chabanel, Antoine Daniel, Rene Goupil, Jean de LaLande, as well as in the lives and commitments of their Huron and French companions. True life and true human flourishing - which is to be a friend of God's - is to be found only through the death that is to give yourself away in love.

This is the message that has attracted you here!