These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.

THURSDAY, WEEK IX, ORDINARY TIME—St Charles Lwanga & Companions, martyrs, June 3

When the girl’s parents left the bedroom
and closed the door behind them,
Tobiah arose from bed and said to his wife,
“My love, get up.
Let us pray and beg our Lord to have mercy on us
and to grant us deliverance.”
She got up, and they started to pray
and beg that deliverance might be theirs.
(Tobit 6:10-11; 7:1, 9-17; 8:4-9a)

Probably one of the most humorous scenes in all the Bible—a couple praying beside their marriage bed on their wedding night! Saint Charles Lwanga and his companions were the first martyrs of Uganda.