"And I will Give You Rest"

“Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death.” I’m sure many of us have heard this phrase at some point in our lives as a patriotic gesture. The quote came from Patrick Henry in his speech to the Second Virginia Convention in March of 1775. The speech was meant to sway the Virginian convention to mobilize militias against the British and their rule, trying to convey that British rule would never be compatible with the American way of life. Now, looking back on it, maybe most of us think this was a common sentiment, that is that people were very open to laying down their pasts and taking up arms against the British. But in reality, that wasn’t the case, and many people were hesitant to even associate themselves with the rebels, let alone fight for them. It was a dangerous time, and people in the beginning steered clear of a rebellion. But that was the point of Patrick Henry’s speech – it's time to stop being complacent, and it's time to fight and defend what they believed in, their way of life. He explains that the war is inevitable and that people had been persecuted and chained by the British for too long, and that he, because he believed in American ideals, would lay down his life for the formation of the country, he would give everything for the liberty and freedom they desire and knew was right. Essentially, he explained, if we put our country first, our way of life before that of British rule, we will prevail.

This idea of putting something first, the most important thing is really the core of the gospel today. They ask Jesus what is the greatest commandment, the one that is most important, and Jesus gives a clear, very direct answer: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment.” Jesus didn’t give a parable or a story, he said clearly: the most important commandment is putting God first. Essentially, the most important thing you can do in life is put God first, nothing else compares to the glory of God. Put God first and all else will follow. But that isn’t so clear in society, by nature of humanity and our modern society, putting God first has become the enemy. Putting God before your job, your money, or your desires has become taboo and insane in a society that values desires more than anything. It has become: God is only God when you have time for him. Loving God as the first commandment has become has been replaced and moved so far down the list it is treated as negligible in society.

I’m sure many of you had of the story of the “Forty Martyrs of Sebaste or the Holy Forty.” Essentially, in 320 AD 40 Roman soldiers had confessed faith in Jesus Christ and were condemned to death by being submerged naked in a freezing cold pond near Sebaste on a cold night. If they denied Christ and said they didn’t believe they could leave and go to the warmth. One of the 40 soldiers gave up and denied Christ and therefore was allowed to go into the warmth, which killed him immediately due to the shock. So for those of you who do now know the story maybe wondering how the number got to 40, since one left. Well, one of the guards who was guarding the martyrs saw the conviction and absolute faith these men had in Jesus Christ and at that moment declared himself a Christian and got into the lake to die with them, hence how it is 40 who were killed. These guys were given a choice: follow Christ and die or deny him and live. The choice was simple, but yet the hardest thing to ever do. They really had to choose whether they would take up their cross, whether they would lay down their life for Christ and his mission, for belief in his glory and resurrection. But the choice was misleading: they said if you deny him you won’t die. But we know that's false. Not only would they literally die from the shock, but by denying God your soul dies, your relationship with him dies. The connection God has created, that he has tried so much to keep going, is cut, it is destroyed, and that itself is death. So the choice was actually even more simple: live or die, but not in the way we would expect. By following Christ, by accepting him, by laying down your life for him, you will live, you will live eternally with him, because you have accepted him. So the death of the body for Christ like those soldiers did was really their acceptance of life, the life that matters, the eternal life with Christ. And it is by accepting this life that we as Christians, that we as Catholics can be a witness to others around the world of our faith, leading and encouraging them to lay down their life for Christ. I pray you don’t ever have to face a situation where you literally have to lay down your life, but you are almost certainly confronted with other situations throughout your life where it is a choice: Christ or our society. We are confronted with decisions everyday that are a choice: it is either life in Christ or death in society. And often we choose sin, we choose to strain our relationship with God. But that isn’t the final answer. God gives us the option of reconciliation and confession of course, where we can go and talk to God and listen to his merciful voice, but we have to work on accepting him first. We need to focus on accepting him and choosing him before society, before Satan can convince us otherwise. God loves us and we need to love him. That's the first commandant. How do we love him: by laying down our life for him, by choosing him over all else, by showing the world our witness and love for Christ.

There is a famous quote by a man named Tertullian who was very important in the early Church. And he said this about martyrs: “The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church.” Essentially, when we put God first, when we love him with all out heart, all our soul, and all our mind, we show the world the truth of Christ and the love of God, which evokes emotions in people to move towards Jesus and the Church. And he was right. The early martyrdoms caused many people to become Christian because they witnessed absolute love. That is not to say one should seek our martyrdom or that dying is good. But it shows that by putting God first, great things can be done.

We will always be presented with situations to choose God, to choose his love, to choose to put him first. Whether it is putting God first by offering to lay down your life like Patrick Henry, or by literally laying down your life for him, by putting God first we grow the Church. Jesus tells us that if we put him first, there is nothing to fear, for God will be with us, he will not forsake us, or leave us. Just listen to him:

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.”