[00:00] In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. In today's Gospel, there are several beautiful things we can reflect upon. First, we see our Lord Jesus calls His twelve disciples, giving them a share in His authority, wanting them to participate and to share in His mission of proclaiming the Gospel, of bringing God's Word to those around them, to share in that

[00:38] ministry of His redemptive work and that work of salvation, and giving them a share in His authority to drive out unclean spirits and to heal the sick. And so it's just a wonderful reflection on how God calls each of us to in some way participate in this same salvific mission through our daily Christian life of faithfulness, our life of prayer, our life of

[01:10] sacrifice and penance, our life of giving good witness daily in our life to others, giving good witness to others as we follow Christ, so that we all have a role to play in God's divine plan. And no one must ever underestimate the power of prayer, how important it is just to pray. St. Maximilian Kolbe said, "Conversions come primarily through prayer." And of course,

[01:40] Our Lady of Fatima said, "Many go to hell because no one prays for them or does penance." And so it's just emphasizing how, yes, it's important to go out and to preach and to do apostolic works and ministries. But above this also is the work of prayer and penance, that we can all in some way contribute for the salvation of souls. Also that our Lord called these apostles, even though they had imperfections and defects of character, and yet His grace would transform them. His grace

[02:16] would transform them. And it's just to make us realize, even though we have imperfections or weaknesses, God's grace is still there to transform us through the sacraments of the Church and our daily striving to unite ourselves to Christ. And the proclamation, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand," reflects to us, now is the time for us to do this, to fulfill our mission. Now is the time for us to

[02:49] cooperate with God's grace. Now is the time for conversion and redemption and our sanctification. Our Lord is just sharing with us the urgency of His mission and that we should in this never lose sight of our first and primary goal, that we must never allow anything to take over our heart's longing and desire, above that desire of being with God and sanctifying ourselves and sharing in God's eternal life. Today we honor in the liturgy, Bishop Gregory Grassi, a Franciscan missionary

[03:26] bishop-priest who was martyred with 24 companions in China on the 7th in 1900 during what was called the Boxer Revolution, who were anti, these Boxers were against foreign religions and foreign missionaries. And so Bishop Gregory Grassi and a companion priest, along with some Franciscan nuns, I think there were nine, seven or nine Franciscan nuns,

[04:02] also Chinese seminarians who were studying for the priesthood and some lay people were martyred. They were eventually humiliated and shamed in public and then ultimately they were tortured and beheaded. And some of them, because the people who were doing it were not very skilled, suffered in agony. There was not a quick and immediate death, but they suffered in agony.

[04:34] And yet Bishop Grassi had the chance to escape. He was given an opportunity to escape. Some people had come to his aid the night before and all the things were getting close to such a a moment. And he said, "I've been praying since I was 12 to die a martyr. Since I was 12 years old, I've been praying to die a martyr. Can I run away now that this time has arrived?" He would not run away and leave his flock and he stayed and he received that crown of martyrdom.

[05:10] So we can ask these martyrs today to pray for us, for the grace of courage, the grace of strength and the grace to give daily witness to our Catholic faith. May St. Gregory Grassi and his companion martyrs pray for us above all that we may carry the light of Christ wherever we go and do so with courage and confidence in God's grace and assistance. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.