January 21 is the memorial feast of St. Agnes of Rome.
She lived and died for Christ, as her name, “Agnes”, indicates. In Latin, Agnes is “agnus” means a lamb. In
Greek, Agnes, is “hagne”,
meaning holy and pure. In Spanish, Agnes is Ines, which also indicates chastity. In fact, Agnes was virgin. Thus, her name,
Agnes, suggests an unblemished lamb, like “agnus
Dei”, the Lamb of God, namely, Jesus as Paschal Sacrifice for our
salvation.
Agnes was pressured to marry to a man of impure heart. She
had no heart for this man. She refused to give herself to a marriage to this
man for the sake of her faith in Christ and her chastity. In response, the man
grew angry at her and conspired Roman officials to kill her.
Basically, because of her faith, Agnes was condemn to death
by a wicked man, whom she refused to marry. But, at that time in Roman Empire, it was
unlawful to execute a virgin. So, she was taken to a brothel to rob her
virginity by rape. However, a man who tried to rape Agnes was struck by divine
forces and became blind. So, she was
bundled to a wood to be burned. But, the wood did not burn. Finally, she was
killed by a sword.
When a sword pierced her body, blood spilled out of her to
the floor. In a way, this evokes an image in John 19:34, blood and water
gushing out of Jesus’ body on the Cross, as a soldier pierced his side. In fact, the blood coming out of Jesus on the
Cross led to the soldier’s possible conversion, as indicated in the following
verses (John 19:37-37). Definitely, the
blood of agnus Dei, Jesus, the
unblemished lamb of God, has the power to convert us. Again, the conversion
power of the blood of Christ was reminded with the image that St. Faustina saw
when Jesus appeared to her for Divine Mercy (Diary 47, 187).
Though the blood came out of Agnes does not have the same
effect of the blood of Jesus, her blood must have been believed to have it
special effect, as many believers flocked to the floor where Agnes’ blood was
spilled over and dipped edge of their cloaks, perhaps– as if to soak with the
blood of Christ. Like the blood of paschal lamb on Passover (Exodus 12:22),
they must have thought that soaking their clothes to Agnes’ blood would protect
them – not from persecution but rather temptations so that they would not give
up their faith in Christ for the sake of their own lives.
The way Agnes, a 12-year-old virgin, lived and died for
Christ, kept her faith in Christ, even it cost her own life, is very inspiring
to the faithful today. Though her earthly life was cut short, it is fully
meaningful, because she did not live and die in vain. The way her life was concluded gives deeper
meaning to her life.
As Jesus said in Luke 9:24 and 17:33, we would lose life if we
became attached to it. In a way, this echoes an important Buddhism teaching of
non-attachment, alobha. Agnes did not have the kind of attachment that
Buddhism teaching sees as a defilement (klesha)
, because of her faith. Her faith in Christ kept her from klesha of upadana
(attachment). That is why she was able to follow her heart. That is why she was
able to resist and refuse that man for the sake of her faith, even though it
cost her life. And, I am sure she has no regret. Though we do not know much detail about the
psychological condition of Agnes toward her death, I do believe that she was
content with the way she lived and died. And, that makes her life
meaningful. She never compromised her
faith – her belief.
In these days, many pew-filling Catholics are shifting more
toward compromising their faith, for the sake of practicalities, even though keeping
the faith uncompromised does not necessarily cost their own lives. It just
costs their own “convenience” with popular secular cultural trends of
time. This will lead to an increase of
lukewarm faith Catholics.
That is why Jesus appeared to St. Faustina to remind us what
his blood gushing out of his body really means. It is to save her from
temptations and possibilities of making our faith compromised and lukewarm
because of the way our secular world turns. Not to mention, it is to protect us
from falling into the klesha of upadana (defilement of attachment) so
that we can keep our alobha (non-attachment)
to our earthly life. This makes our faith pure and strong, enabling us to live
and die for our faith in Christ, if necessary, as in the case of St. Agnes and
many other blood-shedding martyrs.
In essence, this is what the spirit of Samurai, known in
Bushido, is about, as its essence if found in dying – not in vain but for the
sake of a lord, whom samurai serves with absolute loyalty. In this regard,
Agnes is a great Christian “samurai” hero, who experienced the very essence of
Bushido as she died for her Lord, Christ.
Now, St. Agnes, as well as other martyrs challenge us to see
how well we, too, can live and die for our faith in Christ – for Christ.
May the precious blood of St. Agnes, protect us
from evil and his attack on us, including temptations. Amen.
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