Polycarp, Handing on the Torch of Faith

Title: Polycarp, Handing on the Torch of Faith

Date: February 23, 1988 - Polycarp, Bishop & Martyr

Readings: Isaiah 55:10-11 / Psalm 34:4-5,6-7,16-17,18-19 / Matthew 6:7-15

Our psalm offers words which might have proven a comfort to Saint Polycarp as he faced martyrdom for his steadfast faith. "I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears." However, even though he, like us, might be rescued from distress, this does not necessarily mean that we will not have to undergo hardship. Eusebius tells us that Polycarp embraced Christianity as a young man in about the year 80. Indeed, he was made a bishop of a see called Smyrna by none other than St. John the Evangelist himself. Polycarp represents the handing on of the torch of faith from the first Christian generation to the next. In about the year 158 he journeyed to Rome to consult with the Pope regarding the appropriate date for Easter. It was agreed that the East and West would follow their own traditions regarding the dating. In the fourth general persecution of the Church by the empire, he was apprehended and brought before the proconsul. Because he refused to deny Christ, he was condemned to be burned. However, witnesses claimed that the flames avoided him in forming an arch over his head. Undaunted, he was pierced by a sword and he hemorrhaged so badly that it put out the fire. Although his death is recorded as in 166 AD, his bones were collected and remain til this very day in the church of San Ambrogio in Messina, Rome. His faith upheld him so that he might face death well. We should pray to be just as faithful in our many sufferings and in facing the specter of death. In his witness, he also handed on the faith which comes all the way through history to us today. We stand upon the testimony of the generations as well as upon the current experience of Christ's Spirit present in our midst. Now we too are called to nurture the faith and to hand it on uncorrupted to the generations which follow us.