Grace Is Everywhere!

Generally what we hear is that addicted people die from their addictions, destroying their life.  We would not think of them as capable of courage, sacrifice, or much self-giving.  But don’t be too quick to judge.  Take Mark, his real name, a fellow from China around 1900.  He died for his belief in Catholicism in the Boxer revolt.  He was an opium addict right up to the end.  For 30 years he could not go to communion, an important thing for a pious Catholic.  His priest would not give him absolution because Mark kept confessing over and over his opium usage.  No 12 step program back then, so the priest thought that Mark was not very repentant.  In 1900 when the Boxers entered his village Mark readily admitted, no torture, that he was a Christian.  They killed him for his faith.  So he is a martyr, and now an official saint.  Pray to Mark Ji Tianxiang the patron of drug addicts.  The Catholic Church seems to have all kinds of Saints.  Maybe there will be room for me.