Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Antioch

Ignatius was bishop of Antioch at the end of the First Century. He no doubt had some connection with those who had known the Apostles and had imbibed their enthusiasm and sense of a personal relationship with Jesus.

Arrested and sentenced to die in the arena, Ignatius was taken in chains through Asia Minor on the way to Rome. Along this journey, the bishop wrote seven letters to Christian communities explaining why he did not fear death, as he believed that through death, he would be more closely united with Jesus.

The most famous of these letters was the one to the Roman Christian Community. By the time he reached the end of his journey, Ignatius had made it very clear that he believed in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist and saw the celebration of the Eucharist as a source of unity and a call to serve the poor. Without the Eucharist, there is no unity.

He saw his own martyrdom in terms of the Eucharist, “I want to be the bread of God which is the Flesh of Christ.” “I am God’s wheat, and I am being ground by the teeth of wild beasts that I may prove to be pure bread.” He wanted the Christians of Rome to know his intense longing to be fully united to Christ. “Let fire and the cross; let the crowds of wild beasts; let tearing and breakings, the dislocation of bones, the cutting off of members, let shattering of the whole body, and let all the dreadful torments of the devil come upon me: only let me attain Jesus Christ.”

For this early bishop, death did not bring him fear or dread, but the certainty that he would be fully united with Jesus. It was the Eucharist that fed him and brought him to such courage.

Let Us Pray:

Lord, we are challenged by the words of Ignatius of Antioch, where the followers of Jesus were first called Christians: “we have not only to be called Christians, but to BE Christians.” And so, we pray: God of the universe and love of us all, pour out on us an abundance of your grace that in our own time and place we may not only be called Christians but BE Christians. Through Jesus. Amen.