July 9, 2026
Saint Augustine Zhao Rong and Companions, Martyrs (Feast)
Gospel: Jn 12:24-26

Today is Thursday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time. In the Chinese missionary region and among Chinese-speaking Catholic communities, this liturgical celebration is typically observed as a Feast or Solemnity. This year, we offer a reflection based on the Gospel for the Proper Mass of this feast.

The Missale Romanum informs us that this feast commemorates the 120 martyrs who suffered in China between 1648 and 1930. They include European missionaries, such as Saint Gregory Grassi (1823–1900), the Italian-born Bishop of Northern Shanxi, as well as indigenous Christians martyred during the Boxer Rebellion, such as Saint Augustine Zhao Rong, a diocesan priest put to death in 1815. They were canonized by Saint John Paul II in the year 2000.

In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus uses a common image from daily life—a grain of wheat—to describe our relationship with this world. I believe that in many nations, Christianity exists as a minority. Viewed globally, the Church of Christ appears as insignificant as a grain of wheat amidst the vast earth. Yet, it is precisely among these seemingly insignificant People of God that we often encounter those who relate to God according to their own perceived correctness, but who rarely, for God’s sake, are willing to lay down their lives. Their knowledge of God remains superficial; they lack sincerity of heart. Though they have received Baptism into Christ, they have not truly been buried with Him. They cling to their earthly lives and are unwilling to strive for that imperishable life found in Christ.

I wish to say: Through the grace of Christ’s Baptism, we have been incorporated into Christ. The Christ into whom we have been baptized is the One who, while we were still sinners, died for us (cf. Rom 5:8). By His Most Precious Blood poured out on the Cross, He made expiation for all our sins, so that we might be justified by His Blood and saved from God’s wrath through Him (cf. Rom 5:9). When we are in Christ and receive the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God dwells within us, interceding for us with ineffable groanings and assisting our weakness (cf. Rom 8:26). Thus, united with our brothers and sisters who have received the same Baptism and the same Spirit, we become one body in Christ through partaking of the Sacred Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. This Eucharist is consecrated by the priest in the full celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, following the Savior’s command and entrusted teaching. In this way, we are members of the Church founded by Jesus upon Peter, the Rock (cf. Mt 16:18-19).

Today, the Church invites all the faithful to celebrate the 120 martyrs who suffered in China between 1648 and 1930. She does so to call us to imitate these holy Chinese martyrs, who, for the sake of Jesus and His Gospel, were willing to lay down their lives solely to increase the number of God’s children in His Church. Now, let us join together in prayer:

O God, who in your wonderful providence have strengthened your church through the confession of the Matyrs Saint Augustine Zhao and companions, grant that your people, faithful to the mission entrust to it, may enjoy ever greater freedom and witness to the truth before the world. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who live and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever

©Totus Tuus 2026
Cum Approbatione Ecclesiastica