2 April 2027 · Syro-Malabar Rite
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“Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven.” Matthew 10:32
On the first Friday after Easter the Church of the East keeps the feast of all the saints, and above all of the martyrs. The placing is deliberate. The martyrs are those who went with Christ through death into life, and so their feast belongs in the week of the Resurrection, not in the gloom of a funeral. The East Syriac tradition explains the day by its own history. In the fourth century the Persian king Shapur II launched a long persecution against the Christians of his empire. Mar Shemun bar Sabbae, Catholicos of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, refused to betray his flock or to worship the sun, and by tradition he was put to death on Good Friday, about the year 341 or 344, together with a great company of bishops, priests and faithful. Since Good Friday could not become a feast, the martyrs came to be remembered on the Friday after Easter: so the tradition tells it. The Church of St Thomas in India received this calendar and this memory, and the Syro-Malabar Church still keeps the day as the Feast of Martyrs. The witnesses have not stopped. Blessed Rani Maria Vattalil, a Franciscan Clarist sister from Pulluvazhy in Kerala, was stabbed to death on a bus near Indore in 1995, killed in hatred of the faith, stirred up by her work among the poor, and was beatified in 2017. Her family later forgave the man who killed her, and he came to their home to ask their pardon. A martyr's blood, and a martyr's family's forgiveness, preach the Resurrection more loudly than any sermon.
The first reading takes us into a furnace. Three young Jews in Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, have refused to worship the golden statue. Before they are thrown into the fire they give the king an answer that every martyr has repeated: “If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, O king, let him deliver us. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue that you have set up.” (Daniel 3:17–18). Then the astonishing scene: “They walked around in the midst of the flames, singing hymns to God and blessing the Lord.” Azariah stands still in the fire and prays, and his prayer is not a complaint but a confession: “Blessed are you, O Lord, God of our ancestors, and worthy of praise; and glorious is your name forever! For you are just in all you have done.” He does not accuse God of injustice; he accepts that his people have sinned and still trusts in God's mercy. The king, looking in, sees four men walking unbound in the fire, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods. Many Fathers saw in that fourth figure the Son of God, who does not take his witnesses out of the fire but walks with them in it. This is how the martyrs have died: singing, forgiving, and not alone.
In Acts we meet the first Christian martyr. “Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.” Some members of one synagogue in Jerusalem argue with him, “But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke.” False witnesses are found to accuse him of speaking against the Temple and the law. Stephen was himself a Jew, as were the apostles and the whole first community; the quarrel was within one family, and the Church, following the Second Vatican Council (Nostra Aetate 4), never reads such passages as a charge against the Jewish people. What Luke wants us to see is the face of the witness: “And all who sat in the council looked intently at him, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.” Like Moses coming down from Sinai, Stephen's face shines because he has been with God. Soon he will see heaven opened, pray for his killers and die (Acts 7:56–60). The Letter to the Hebrews then opens the great roll of the witnesses of faith. “By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain's... he died, but through his faith he still speaks.” By faith Noah built the ark. “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going.” These men and women did not see the promise fulfilled, “For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” The martyrs are the ones who believed the city was real enough to die for.
The Gospel is Jesus' instruction to witnesses. Three times he says, Do not be afraid. “So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered.” “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.” “So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.” The reason is the tenderness of the Father: “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted.” Then the promise and the warning: “Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.” The Syriac word for martyr, sahda, like the Greek martys, means simply a witness. Few of us will be asked to die for Christ, but all of us are asked to acknowledge him: at the office table, in the hostel, in the family group chat, in the way we do business and the way we speak of the poor. Today is also the First Friday, the day many families give to the Sacred Heart. The Heart that was pierced on the Cross and rose glorified is the source of every martyr's courage. To keep this feast well is to ask for a little of that courage, and to make one small act of acknowledgement before the day ends.
Theme: “Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven.”
The young men in the fire, Stephen with the face of an angel, the witnesses of faith, and the call to fearless witness.
“If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, O king, let him deliver us. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue that you have set up.” Daniel 3:17–18
“But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they did not cling to life even in the face of death.” Revelation 12:11
Apply: Tell God in prayer today that you will trust him even if he does not give you what you are asking.
“Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.” Exodus 34:29
“And all who sat in the council looked intently at him, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.” Acts 6:15
Apply: Spend time with God before a hard conversation, and let him be seen in you.
“Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.” Genesis 12:1
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.” Hebrews 12:1
Apply: Ask one saint or martyr to be your companion this Easter season, and learn their story.
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” Isaiah 43:1
“Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven.” Matthew 10:32
Apply: Make one small public act of witness today: grace before meals, a word of faith, a sign of the cross.
The martyrs went with Christ through death into life, and he walked with them in the fire.
We are surrounded by their cloud of witnesses; let us not be afraid to acknowledge him.
Take-home resolution: Today, make one act of public witness, pray for a persecuted Church by name, and forgive one person with Stephen's prayer.
Dear friends, on the first Friday after Easter the Church of the East remembers all the saints and above all the martyrs. They belong in Easter week, because they went with Christ through death into life. Our tradition remembers Mar Shemun bar Sabbae and the martyrs of Persia, killed, the story says, on a Good Friday long ago. And our own Church has given witnesses in our own time, like Blessed Rani Maria, whose family forgave the man who killed her.
In Daniel three young men face the furnace and say: our God is able to save us; but if not, we will still not bow down. That ‘but if not’ is the heart of faith. We do not love God only for what he gives. And in the fire they walk and sing, and a fourth man walks with them. Christ does not always take us out of the fire, but he never leaves us alone in it.
Stephen, full of grace and power, is dragged before the council on false charges. Stephen was a Jew, like the apostles; this is not a story against any people. It is the story of a witness whose face shines like an angel's, who sees heaven open and prays for those who stone him. He died as his Master died: forgiving.
Hebrews reminds us of the long line of witnesses. Abel, of whom it is written, “he died, but through his faith he still speaks.” Abraham, who “set out, not knowing where he was going.” They lived for a city they did not yet see. So did the martyrs. So must we.
Jesus says three times: Do not be afraid. Your Father sees every sparrow, and he has counted the hairs of your head. And then: “Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven.” Most of us will not be asked to die. But every day we are asked to acknowledge him: at work, in college, in the family chat, in how we treat the poor.
Today is also First Friday. Let us go to the Heart of Jesus, pierced and risen, and ask for a little of the martyrs' courage. And before tonight let us make one small act of witness. Christ is risen! Alleluia! Amen.
Children, today we remember the martyrs. They were brave friends of Jesus who would not stop loving him, even when they were hurt.
Jesus says: ‘Do not be afraid! God counts every hair on your head.’ Let us be brave and say: ‘I love Jesus!’
Lord Jesus Christ, first-born from the dead and faithful witness, you walked with the three young men in the fire and showed your glory to Stephen as he died. We thank you for all the martyrs and saints of your Church, for Mar Shemun and his companions, for the witnesses of our own land and our own time. Give us their courage to acknowledge you before others, their faith to go out not knowing where we are going, and their love to forgive those who hurt us. With Mary, Queen of Martyrs, who stood beside your Cross, let us one day join the great multitude robed in white. Glory to you, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, for ever. Amen. Alleluia!