December 31

Today marks the birth, in 1597, of Saint John Francis Regis, a French Jesuit who established safehouses and job training ministries for prostitutes and orphans. 

This is the feast day of Melania the Younger, who died on this day in 439. She was one of the wealthiest people in the world at the time, owning properties across the Empire from Britain to Africa. She and her husband Valerius Pinianus sold their many properties, gave the money to the poor, and became part of the desert monastic communities in Algeria.  

Today marks the death, in 1384, of John Wycliffe, a pre-Reformation reformer from England. He condemned the wealthy excesses of clergy, advocated for the Bible to be translated from Latin into English, and needled the pope.

Today marks the death, in 1972, of Henry Gerber, referred to as “the Grandfather of the Gay Movement,” one of the earliest public organizers and advocates for gay rights in the United States. He and colleagues founded an interracial organization called the Society for Human Rights in 1924, but they were quickly persecuted out of existence. He continued his advocacy through journalism.

Reflection:

After John Wycliffe died, he was declared a heretic, and his body was exhumed, burned, and his ashes were thrown into the river. In my opinion, that’s one of the highest honors that can be given to a follower of Christ. 

Henry Gerber wrote: 

and

Prayer: Gracious and Just God, those who follow the path of justice and liberation are often condemned as heretics, bullied by the legal system, and reviled by those in power. Help us to see the bigger picture, the one where we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses who urge us to never give up hope, because it’s only by their divinely-inspired efforts that the arc of history bends at all toward justice. Amen.