April 3

Today is the birthday, in 1928, of Emmett “Pops” Johns, a Canadian priest who devoted his life to helping unhoused teenagers on the streets. The organization he founded is called Dans La Rue (“In the Streets”), and its mission has always been “to help without judgment.” (His nickname “Pops” also highlights similarities in the mission and character of Father Greg Boyle).

Today is the feast day of Agape, Chionia, and Irene, who were martyred in the year 304 in Thessaloniki, for possessing copies of Christian scriptures and for refusing to eat meat sacrificed to idols. 

Reflection: 

This story of Agape, Chionia, and Irene is a familiar one of Christian persecution, especially under Diocletian. What I find particularly poignant, though, is that only 8 years later, the emperor Constantine would himself convert to Christianity. Though that shift brought its own problems (and, I think, undermined Christian theology by wedding the church to secular power), I’m mindful of how these three determined women could not have foreseen how the world would change.

We are likewise witnessing a radical perversion of Christian faith toward empire, fascism, and white supremacy in the current United States executive branch. And though I have been watching this depressing state of affairs for nearly a decade, these women’s story may not be much different from our own. Things are always changing. And those who are in power right now have no more idea of what that change will be like than we do. 

“Martyr” means “witness.” These women were witnesses to a new way of being that was emerging. 

Prayer: God whose kin-dom grows like a mustard weed, we anticipate the surprising growth of your reign like the spring. We wait for this age to pass, and celebrate every witness to the change that will come.