21st January, 2015: St. Agnes, Virgin and Martyr
Heb 7: 1-3,15-17; Mk 3: 1-6
The readings today speak of two religious disciplines that mattered much to the Old Testament people of God: the practice of tithing and the observance of the Sabbath. Both of them taken in their legalistic sense, would be practices very simple but of less significance. A tenth of your possession given grudgingly, or as in the example of Ananias and Saphira (Acts 5) trying to make it as affecting as possible, will bear no spiritual fruit. Keeping Sabbath as a day of dead and insensitive inactivity instead of holy and active worship to God, will be of no spiritual value. They key to right understanding here is, not giving of what we have, but giving of what we are: a true self giving.
St. Agnes the saint of the day, gave herself up - gave herself totally- to God and to her faith! This total self giving, her body, her soul and her heart, is what is presented to us as a challenge today. In a world that is torn between compromises and mixed allegiances, Agnes' example shines forth as a splendid beacon, beckoning us towards concrete and daily sanctity.
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