Sept 12th - Franciscus Ch'oe Kyong-Hwan

When times are tough, where is our Faith in our lives? What if something happened that took away the Eucharist or all access to the Sacraments for that matter? Christians have lived on Faith for millennia through persecution, separation, distance.
Whether times were good or times were bad, Franciscus held tight to the Faith, sharing it as he was able, joyfully offering his own son up to a vocation that most likely could end in his death as it had for many missionary clergy. Franciscus had it all, lost it, migrated from place to place, guarded our most sacred vessels from sacrilege, and held on to the most important things to help him continue to share, teach, and live the Faith. Even after being arrested and subject to torture, he continued to pray and teach until his death.
We need the Sacraments and the liturgy but what we need most is a firm foundation of Faith.
Devotionals can come and go. We can be physically denied the external practice of our Faith. We can lose the community which supports us in that Faith. Franciscus reminds us that if we have the Faith, we can never lose the moments of grace, be they sacraments or sacramental. Pray to never loose the Faith no matter what happens.

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For as I see it, God has exhibited us apostles as the last of all, like people sentenced to death, since we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and human beings alike. We are fools on Christ’s account, but you are wise in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are held in honor, but we in disrepute. To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clad and roughly treated, we wander about homeless and we toil, working with our own hands. When ridiculed, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we respond gently. We have become like the world’s rubbish, the scum of all, to this very moment.

-- 1 Corinthians 4:9-13