Today’s readings reveal the heart of God.
Not first His power.
Not first His justice.
But His love.
A love so patient, so faithful, so determined that it continues even when it is rejected.
The prophet Hosea gives us one of the most moving images in the entire Old Testament.
God speaks of Israel not as a king speaks of subjects, but as a father speaks of a child.
“When Israel was a child I loved him, and I called my son out of Egypt.”
Then He continues:
“I myself taught Ephraim to walk, I took them in my arms.”
It is a beautiful image.
Imagine a father teaching a toddler to walk.
Holding out his hands.
Catching the child when he falls.
Lifting him up again.
Encouraging every uncertain step.
That is how God sees His people.
Not as numbers.
Not as problems.
Not as burdens.
As beloved children.
And yet the tragedy of the reading is that the more God loved them, the further they wandered away.
The God who taught them to walk was forgotten.
The God who fed them was ignored.
The God who rescued them was abandoned.
Yet listen to God’s response.
Not revenge.
Not bitterness.
Not rejection.
Instead:
“My heart recoils from it, my whole being trembles.”
God speaks almost like a parent whose child has broken his heart.
Justice would demand punishment.
Love longs for restoration.
And finally love triumphs.
“I will not give vent to my fierce anger, for I am God and not man.”
That is one of the most astonishing lines in Scripture.
When human beings are hurt, we often seek revenge.
When God is rejected, He seeks redemption.
That is the God revealed fully in Jesus Christ.
And we see it in the Gospel.
Jesus sends out the apostles with a simple message:
“The kingdom of heaven is close at hand.”
Notice what He does not send them to announce.
Not condemnation.
Not despair.
Not hopelessness.
The Kingdom.
Good news.
Salvation.
The arrival of God Himself.
And then He tells them to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out devils.
In other words, to continue His own work of mercy.
Because that is what God has always wanted.
Not merely to rule His people.
But to save them.
Today’s martyrs understood this profoundly.
St Augustine Zhao Rong began his life as a soldier.
Indeed, he was one of the soldiers escorting a bishop, St John Gabriel Taurin Dufresse, to execution.
Imagine the scene.
A condemned missionary.
A prisoner on his way to death.
A soldier guarding him.
Humanly speaking, they were enemies.
Yet something happened.
Augustine saw the bishop’s peace.
His courage.
His faith.
And he was moved.
The man sent to escort a martyr became a Christian.
The guard became a disciple.
The observer became a believer.
Eventually he became a priest.
And finally he too became a martyr.
What changed him?
Not an argument.
Not a political programme.
Not force.
The witness of holiness.
The sight of a man who loved Christ more than life itself.
And he was not alone.
Today we honour 120 martyrs who died in China between 1648 and 1930.
Priests.
Religious.
Catechists.
Mothers.
Fathers.
Children.
Chinese converts and foreign missionaries.
Very different people.
United by one thing.
Their love for Christ.
Many were offered a choice.
Renounce the faith and live.
Remain faithful and die.
Again and again they chose Christ.
And here we should pause.
Because most of us will never face martyrdom.
Most of us will never be asked to shed our blood.
But we are all asked the same question.
Who comes first?
Christ or comfort?
Christ or popularity?
Christ or convenience?
Christ or self?
The martyrs simply answered that question more dramatically than most.
They understood that the God who had loved them first was worth everything.
And perhaps that is the lesson connecting all three readings.
The apostles are sent out because God loves the world.
The martyrs die because they love God in return.
And Hosea shows us the source of it all:
the patient, faithful, fatherly love of God.
Christianity begins there.
Not with our search for God.
But with God’s search for us.
Not with our faithfulness.
But with His.
Not with our love.
But with His love first.
The saints are simply people who finally believed that love.
Augustine Zhao Rong believed it.
The Chinese martyrs believed it.
The apostles believed it.
And because they believed it, they were willing to give everything.
Today, perhaps the Lord asks something much smaller of us.
Not martyrdom. But faithfulness. Daily prayer. Sunday Mass.
Charity towards difficult people.
Courage in speaking about our faith.
Perseverance in times of trial.
The same love that sustained the martyrs is offered to us.
The God who taught Israel to walk still teaches His children to walk.
The God whose heart trembled with compassion still seeks sinners.
The God who strengthened the martyrs still strengthens His Church.
And His message remains the same:
The kingdom of heaven is close at hand.
St. Mary's, St. John Bosco and St. Edward's 