Ignatius, who was martyred in Rome around 115, was one of the second generation of Christians. He was likely born around a.d. 30 or 35, in modern-day Turkey. He’s most known for the series of seven letters he wrote on his way to Rome to meet his death. In one of them, he includes what many scholars believe is the first written usage of the word Christianity. Ignatius's martyrdom was planned as part of the festivities in Rome celebrating a military victory. We don’t perhaps understand how watching a seventy-plus-year old man die in the amphitheater is celebratory, but much about that era puzzles us. Ignatius and others were eager to become martyrs, which was considered a great honor. In fact, Ignatius’s greatest fear was that someone in Rome would intercede for him and nullify his conviction as a Christian. In his letter to Christians in Rome, he wrote, “I fear your kindness, which may harm me. You may be able to achieve what you plan. But if you pay no heed to my request it will be very difficult for me to attain unto God….I am God’s wheat, to be ground by the teeth of beasts, so that I may be offered as pure bread of Christ.…If you remain silent about me, I shall become a word of God.” And so he did; the powers that be intended to frighten Christians, but Ignatius's bold witness had the opposite effect. Thanks be to God. Prayer: Almighty God, we praise your Name for your bishop and martyr Ignatius of Antioch, who offered himself as grain to be ground by the teeth of wild beasts that he might present to you the pure bread of sacrifice. Accept, we pray, the willing tribute of our lives and give us a share in the pure and spotless offering of your Son Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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Saints Alive!
I have been privileged to offer Noonday Prayer at my church, usually on Thursdays, which doesn’t matter because it’s on Youtube forever. [It’s amazing what can be done with a smartphone and a smart, helpful parish administrator!] The service is brief, with a place for a meditation. We usually look at the Episcopal calendar of saints, who are nearly always honored on their death dates, not their birth dates. Here is a hymn by medieval saint Hildegard of Bingen to set the mood.
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