June 30 Fri
Today, the Church celebrates the memory of the First Roman Martyrs. They were chosen by God at the first hour, and paid with blood for their faith in Christ. They were ordinary persons and citizens of the capital of the Roman empire. They were living faithfully to our Lord in the midst of earthly affairs. Each community of the faithful gathered persons of all the social strata and of all backgrounds. They were people converted to the faith of Christ, which kept them together.

All the professions were represented in these communities: there were doctors such as Luke; lawyers such as Zela; financiers such as Erastus; academics such as Apollo; craftsmen such as Alexander; businessmen small and great, jail wardens and their families; soldiers and officials; a proconsul -Sergius Paulus, etc. They were poor and rich; slaves and freemen; civilians and even military men, like Sebastian.

Like them, we seek sanctity in the middle of the world. St Josemaría: “Our Christian spirit is both old as the Gospel and like the Gospel, new. The very nature of our vocation, our way of seeking sanctity and of working for the Kingdom of God, prompts us to speak of divine things in the very language of ordinary men, to uphold the same wholesome social customs as everyone else, and to share the same honest mentality. God can never be a cold or distant model, to be admired but not loved.”

The first Christians were not enclosed in convents. They remained in the midst of their equals in society. This is our situation too, since we ought not differentiate ourselves in any way from our companions and fellow citizens.

Moreover, we must be Christ's leaven in the 'bread' of society.  We are ordinary Christians, co-equal citizens who live a life like that of the first Christian faithful, in all sectors of society, with an individual, silent, and almost invisible apostolate.

And we, ordinary men in the street, would say to the rest – to our working companions, brothers or children, to our students or teachers – Now is the time to awaken (Rom 13:11). Let us walk in the newness of life (Rom 6:4).

Let us go to the Blessed Virgin like the disciples, who persevered in prayer close to her. “This is the origin of our happiness, of our peace, of our serenity, and therefore of our supernatural effectiveness.”