The Strength of Conviction: Lessons from Saint Philomena
Summary of Headings
The Story of Rome's Siege
Hundreds of years before the coming of Christ, when Rome was still a republic, the city of Rome was under siege. One of the neighboring countries decided that Rome was getting too powerful, and so they decided to descend upon Rome. They encircled it, and they held it in siege. A group of young men of the patrician families got together and formed a conspiracy to assassinate the general. The very first one who went into camp to try to do so ended up getting captured, and he was brought before the general, relieved of his weapons, obviously. And when the general was interrogating him, he kept asking him why he was doing this. The young man tried to explain to him exactly how important the very concept and the very essence of Rome was, and why he was willing to sacrifice his life, and why every person, every patrician in the city was willing to sacrifice their life for Rome. To prove his point, he voluntarily went over to the brazier where there was a fire, and he put his hand in the fire, voluntarily, and held it there, and said, this is the strength of conviction that you face. The general ended up packing up and going home, and Rome eventually conquered that territory and added it to the empire, the eventual empire. What is it that we find remarkable about this story? Well, it's the same thing that we should find remarkable about the story of Saint Philomena, because, in fact, it's a very important part of the story. Because, when we know her story, she was actually brought before the most powerful man on the face of the earth, the Emperor Diocletian. Also a man who violently hated Catholics, and therefore actually ran the most universal and the most bloody persecution of Catholics. If you go through the martyrology, one in three martyrs are under the time of Diocletian. He was the one who brought the most pain and suffering in his persecution against the church. And yet, she was brought before him, a 13 year old girl. And she was given a chance. She wouldn't have even had to give up her faith. But he wanted her to marry him. And she refused because she had already consecrated herself to Christ. And as a result, she was executed. But she wasn't just executed, she was executed multiple times. Or attempted to be executed. Through arrows, through fire, through everything that they could throw at her, pretty much. An anchor being hung around her neck and thrown into the sea. The rope broke. The arrows turned back against her executors. What is it we admire about the martyrs, about a man who could dedicate himself so much that he's willing to put his hand to the flame, which by the way in Spanish actually means that. That you would be able to, that you believe so firmly in something that you would be willing to burn your own hand to prove just how much you believe in that thing. And that is conviction. That is something that is in very short supply in our day and age. The virtue of conviction. Just the desire and the knowledge, absolute, firm, complete knowledge that what we know is so true that we are willing to put our lives on the line to declare it. This is something that the world desperately needs. But it needs it from a specific source. Us. We who are faithful Catholics, we who have the faith, we must believe so strongly that we would be willing to poner las manos en el fuego, put the hands in the fire. We must have that strength of conviction that our lives serve that conviction. That is the story of Saint Philomena. That is the story of all the martyrs. That is the story of this young man that I told you at the beginning of the story. But if he could do that for a simple ideology of a city -state, that was all he was doing. He was so enamored with the very principle of what the foundation of Rome meant that he was willing to sacrifice himself and everyone else to prove that point. To declare his determination. He voluntarily sacrificed his hand by stuffing it into a flame to burn it off to prove the conviction that he held in his heart that Rome was a beautiful, wonderful, important, essential thing. That he was pagan. We who have the faith, we who have the body, blood, soul, and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, we who have the Holy Roman Catholic Church, we who have the teachings of the faith, we who have the sacraments, we who have every possible grace that is necessary for salvation and an overabundance of those gifts. Where is our conviction? Are we willing to put our hands in the fire to step forward with the same strength of conviction? Are we willing to sacrifice anything and everything because we know that Jesus Christ is God? Because we know the Catholic Church is the only church? Because we know he is the only path to salvation? And because we know the world needs him? Are we truly convinced of that? Do we truly believe that? Not just believe it, but believe it with such a passion and such a fire that we are willing to throw everything else out. Willing to sacrifice everything else, even our very lives, like Saint Philomena was. Ready to sacrifice and give everything. There is a particular area where this lack of conviction is most noticeable in our world and unfortunately in our own communities. And that is with the youth.
Summary
Hundreds of years before the coming of Christ, when Rome was still a republic, the city of Rome was under siege. One of the neighboring countries decided that Rome was getting too powerful, and so they decided to descend upon Rome. They encircled it, and they held it in siege. A group of young men of the patrician families got together and formed a conspiracy to assassinate the general. The very first one who went into camp to try to do so ended up getting captured, and he was brought before the general, relieved of his weapons, obviously. And when the general was interrogating him, he kept asking him why he was doing this. The young man tried to explain to him exactly how important the very concept and the very essence of Rome was, and why he was willing to sacrifice his life, and why every person, every patrician in the city was willing to sacrifice their life for Rome. To prove his point, he voluntarily went over to the brazier where there was a fire, and he put his hand in the fire, voluntarily, and held it there, and said, this is the strength of conviction that you face.