2 April 2027 · Syro-Malankara Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malabar Rite · Latin Rite · മലയാളം
“Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven.” Matthew 10:32
Christ is risen! On the first Friday after Qyomtho the Church does not return to the Friday of the Cross alone; she keeps the memory of all the confessors. In the Syriac tradition a mawdyono, a confessor, is one who confessed Christ openly before others and bore the cost: prison, exile, torture, and for many, death. The Panchangam calls this day the Friday of All the Confessors (Sakala Mawdyanmar). It is fitting that they are remembered in the white week. On Good Friday the Lord went down into death; on this Friday we honor those who followed him there and now share his victory. The Book of Revelation sees them “robed in white” before the throne, having “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Hevoro, the white week of the newly baptized, is also the week of the white robes of the witnesses. The Letter to the Hebrews names some of the heroes of faith of the old covenant and then lists those whose names it does not give: “Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword.” Then comes a sentence that every age of persecution has repeated with gratitude: they were people “of whom the world was not worthy.”
Why did they not deny Christ? Today's Gospel gives the Lord's own reasons. First, nothing stays hidden: “What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops.” Second, the worst that persecutors can do has a limit: “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.” Third, we are known and loved in every detail: “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. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.” And finally, a promise: “Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven.” Tertullian told the rulers of his time that the blood of Christians is seed: the more they were mown down, the more they grew (in substance). Hebrews ends with a mystery: those heroes “did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.” The confessors of every age wait to be made perfect together with us, in the one Body of the risen Christ.
How do we keep the Friday of All the Confessors? Remember the confessors of our own land: St Thomas the Apostle, who according to the tradition of our Churches gave his life for Christ in India; and the Christians of our own time in India and elsewhere who have lost homes, health or life rather than deny the Lord. Pray today for all who suffer for the faith, and if you can, give to a fund that helps persecuted Christians. Ask the Virgin Mary, whom the Church invokes as Queen of Confessors, for courage. Then look at your own day: where am I silent about Christ out of fear of laughter or of losing favor? A word at the office, a sign of the cross before a meal in a restaurant, a Sunday kept holy against pressure: these are small confessions, and the Lord who counts the hairs of our head does not forget them. Come to the Holy Qurbono, where the risen Lord whom the confessors acknowledged gives himself to us.
Theme: “Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven.”
On the Friday of All the Confessors: the witnesses of whom the world was not worthy, the Lord's word against fear, and his promise to all who confess him.
“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.” Daniel 3:17
“These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Revelation 7:14
Apply: Pray today by name for Christians who suffer for the faith, and help them if you can.
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” Isaiah 43:1
“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear;” 1 John 4:18
Apply: Name one fear that keeps you silent about Christ, and hand it over to him in prayer.
“Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his faithful ones.” Psalm 116:15
“because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9
Apply: Make one small, gentle confession of Christ today in a place where it costs you something.
The confessors share the Lord's death and now his victory; in the white week we see them robed in white.
The risen Lord who counts the hairs of our head will acknowledge before his Father all who acknowledge him.
Take-home resolution: Confess Christ gently and without fear: pray for the persecuted, ask the Virgin Mary, Queen of Confessors, for courage, and receive strength at the Holy Qurbono.
Dear friends, Christ is risen! On this first Friday after Qyomtho our Church remembers all the confessors: those who confessed Christ before others and paid for it with prison, exile or death. The Letter to the Hebrews calls them people of whom the world was not worthy (Hebrews 11:38).
Why did they stand firm? The Lord tells us in the Gospel. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Not a sparrow falls without your Father; even the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows (Matthew 10:31).
And he gives a promise: Everyone who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven (Matthew 10:32). In this white week we see the confessors, with Revelation, robed in white, their robes washed in the blood of the Lamb.
Let us pray today for Christians who suffer for the faith, ask the Virgin Mary, Queen of Confessors, for courage, and make our own small confessions: a sign of the cross, a word for Christ, a Sunday kept holy. The risen Lord does not forget them. Amen.
Children, Christ is risen! Today we remember all the brave Christians who said “I belong to Jesus,” even when people hurt them for it. Jesus said: do not be afraid! God looks after every little sparrow, and he even knows how many hairs are on your head. Can you be brave for Jesus today, maybe by making the sign of the cross before you eat?
Lord Jesus Christ, risen and glorious, you promised to acknowledge before your Father everyone who acknowledges you before others. We thank you for all the confessors who held fast to you in chains, in exile and in death, of whom the world was not worthy. Through their prayers strengthen the Christians who suffer for your name today. Deliver us from the fear that keeps us silent, and teach us that we are of more value than many sparrows. With the Virgin Mary, Queen of Confessors, and all your witnesses, we praise you with the Father and the Holy Spirit, for ever. Amen.