The quote of the week is taken from one of seven letters written by St. Ignatius that still survive. Here is a passage from one that was written as he was being transported to Rome facing martyrdom in the Coliseum. “I am writing to all the Churches and I enjoin all, that I am dying willingly for God’s sake, if only you do not prevent it. I beg you, do not do me an untimely kindness. Allow me to be eaten by the beasts, which are my of reaching to God. I am God’s wheat, and I am to be ground by the teeth of wild beasts, so that I can become the pure bread of Christ.” St. Ignatius was thrown to the lions for the entertainment of the Roman populace in the Coliseum in Rome as punishment for not renouncing his faith in God and worship the cult of the Roman Emperor.
Roman Catholic Diocese of Cloyne, County Cork, Ireland.
