19 October 2021
Memorial of Saints John de Brébeuf and Isaac Jogues, Priests, and Companions, Martyrs
One of my favorite church songs to sing at my grade school liturgies was the spiritual “Somebody’s Knockin’ at Your Door.” The verses of the song describe that there is a mysterious person knocking at the door if you did not surmise that from the song’s title. The verses progress to affirm that the person is Jesus. The last verse concludes, “Can’t you trust him?” It is a reversal of biblical proportions that the stranger becomes none other than the Lord waiting to be let in.
We see in our gospel passage that the servants of the house recognize the master as he knocks on the door. Granted, they were instructed before the master left to be vigilant. The natural opposite of vigilance is neglect or indifference. From the context of the story, the servants run the risk of falling asleep before they would grow inattentive. They did not know when the master might return, so the servants keep vigil not knowing when it will end. The parable seems to fit both the present and the future arrivals of Christ. If we are not fully awake, we will not know Jesus is present.
Today the American Church celebrates the North American Martyrs. They were French Jesuits and 2 laymen who were killed in their missionary work with the indigenous peoples in modern day Canada and New York. Their mission was rooted in the desire to spread the Gospel to peoples who had not heard it. As we celebrate their legacy, we also must recognize all the places where the Gospel that they preached has not been fully lived. The treatment of indigenous communities in North America shows the legacy of cultural devastation and lost lives, which are antithetical to the Gospel. This trauma came at the hand of government and Church operated residential schools.
The Gospel calls us to be vigilant for the coming of Christ in our midst. To be vigilant, we must be awake, and stories make us aware of wider realities beyond our original frame of reference. Let us pray through the intercession of the North American Martyrs to open the doors to our hearts to listen and learn from the past. As the lyrics from the song go, can’t we trust Christ to be with us as we reconcile with the past?