Nowadays, I’m finding myself paying much more attention to Liturgical readings about the early Christian martyrs.

Thinking about either St. Paul’s being beheaded, or St. Peter’s being crucified, for example, has a different impact on me now.

Their beheading and crucifixion seem more “real” now, given that in 2015, our fellow Christians are suffering that same nauseating fate– almost two thousand years later.

And I’m wondering what difference it makes that humanity is enjoying so many technological and other supposed modernizing advances, and yet we seem to be capable of the same inhumanity, the same brutality, as demonstrated in ancient times.

Jesus asked if, when He returned, He would find any faith on Earth.

Those words give me pause today in a way they never did before.

Please, God, I pray so.

And as we enter into Presidential campaigning, I yearn for a candidate who will protect our religious liberty from attackers, within and without.

Will the Son of Man find any faith on Earth?

Please, God, enlighten us to elect leaders who recognize that faith in You, Who are our only surety, is our best defense against all the evil forces that seek to destroy us, as individuals, and as nations.