St. Agatha
Lk 9, 23-26
At that time Jesus said to the crowd: “If anyone wants to be my disciple, deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. What good is it to a man if he wins the whole world, but loses himself and suffers harm? For whosoever is ashamed of me and of my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his majesty and in the majesty of the Father and of the holy angels.
Today we meet again a young saint, who, under terrible persecution, became a martyr for the love of Christ. In St. Agatha (+ 251 under emperor Decius) we discovere a loving soul, as well as in St. Agnes, whom we recently commemorated. They, having put into practice the words of today’s Gospel, are a model for us in following our Lord.