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!

What Makes a Jesuit Heart Beat? The Little Happiness: Principle and Foundation

By Fr. Peter Bisson, S.J.

Fr. Bisson, the Provincial Superior of the Jesuits in English Canada, gave this speech on Saturday, May 12th, 2012, for the closing ceremony of the 400th Anniversary of the Jesuits in Canada. This text and the song were translated from the French originals by Santiago Rodriguez, S.J. 

The vision of God and of the world that inspires the Society of Jesus, and those who share this vision, is expressed in part by these lines from Félix Leclerc:

It's a little joy

That I had gathered

It was all in tears

On the edge of a ditch

When it saw me passing by

It began to shout out

"Sir, pick me up

And bring me to your place

My brothers have forgotten me, I’m fallen, I'm sick

If you don't pick me up I'll die; what a shame!

I'll make myself small, tender and obedient, I promise

Sir, I'm begging you, free me of my torture

Sur, I'm begging you, free me of my torture.”