Wednesday’s Wink from Above November 5, 2025 - Homily Cycle I 10/17/2025 Memorial of St. Ignatius of Antioch – Offered at the School Mass for Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish, Bethlehem, PA

 

Readings:    https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/1017-memorial-ignatius-antioch.cfm

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Ignatius of Antioch born around 50 A.D. in [present day] Syria. Ignatius was the 2^nd Bishop of Antioch & was the first one to use the term “Catholic Church” as a collective designation for Christians, he is mentioned in the Roman Canon.

Have you ever heard the phrase “Look, up in the sky. It’s a bird, it’s a plane. No, it’s Superman.” As you know his cape is red, but I am so old that when I watched the Adventures of Superman growing up, his cape wasn’t red because television then was only in black and white.

 

Superman’s cape is red for two reasons:

1.      It was linked to his Kryptonian heritage.

2.      It was a vibrant color.

This morning Fr. Marty and I are wearing red vestments not because the color is vibrant, BUT because St. Ignatius of Antioch was a martyr and is part of our heritage as Christians. 

Red Vestments are used at other times during the liturgical year, for example Confirmation, Good Friday and Pentecost. They represent sacrificial love, but also, point to divine charity, and spiritual fervor, associated with the Holy Spirit and Christ's Passion.

 

Ignatius believed that Jesus was truly God and truly man. St. Ignatius believed in the “Real Presence”,  Jesus gives us His body and blood in the Eucharist to nourish us. In our 1^st reading St. Paul teaches us that our “citizenship is in heaven” and in our Gospel we heard that we are called to serve and follow Jesus – if we do we will produce much fruit.

One way can do that today is to join with St. Ignatius, who lived in the Middle East, and pray that the agreement [recently signed] prevails & brings peace to that region. If we follow Jesus - our families and our world will be better served.

How you can serve Jesus: 1. By being a good daughter/son, by doing your best as a student, by listening to your parents and your teachers. Today when you see something “blue” say a quick prayer to the Blessed Mother and when you see “red” say a prayer of thanks to Jesus.

May God Be Praised.