A Thousand Lives

Today the Catholic Church celebrates the martyrdom of the first Filipino Saint and Martyr, Saint Lorenzo Ruiz. (ca. 1600 – 29 September 1637). Quoting from Wikipedia, “He was killed for refusing to leave Japan and renounce his Roman Catholic beliefs during the persecution of Japanese Christians under the Tokugawa Shogunate in the 17th century.

The Tokugawa shogunate was persecuting Christians by the time Ruiz had arrived in Japan. The missionaries were arrested and thrown into prison, and after two years, they were transferred to Nagasaki to face trial by torture. He and his companions faced different types of torture. One of these was the insertion of needles inside their fingernails.

On 27 September 1637, Ruiz and his companions were taken to the Nishizaka Hill, where they were tortured by being hung upside down a pit. This form of torture was known as tsurushi in Japanese or horca y hoya in Spanish. The method was supposed to be extremely painful: though the victim was bound, one hand is always left free so that victims may be able to signal that they recanted, and they would be freed. Ruiz refused to renounce Christianity and died from blood loss and suffocation. His body was cremated and his ashes thrown into the sea.” Wikipedia

He declared upon his death saying, “I am a Catholic and wholeheartedly do accept death for the Lord; If I had a thousand lives, all these I shall offer to Him.”

With all the pain and suffering caused by torture he did not renounce his faith, instead it emboldened him to die for it. To rephrase his final words, even if he will be given a thousand lives, he will give it back to Him a thousand times as well.

This kind of courage under persecution accompanied by deep faith in God will not go without fruits, for the seed planted in the soil of sweat and blood will grow, bloom and bear fruit that will remain.

Saint Lorenzo Ruiz and Companions help us to muster enough courage to proclaim our faith in a sea of faithlessness. Amen.

by aats