God's grace is sufficient: Saint Agnes: Humble, Little Saint

"My grace is sufficient for thee; for in weakness is God's power made evident." This saying of St. Paul, found in his First Letter to the Corinthians, is the theme of this blog. The liturgy from the Memorial of Saint Agnes (January 21) is very illustrative of this. The collect and the prayer from The Liturgy of the Hours reads as follows:

Almighty, eternal God, you choose what the world considers weak to put the worldly power to shame. May we who celebrate the birth of St. Agnes into eternal joy be loyal to the faith she professed. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Furthermore, the First Reading from the Mass of St. Agnes is the wonderful passage on "saint heroism" from First Corinthians (1:26-31). We quote in here in part:

God has chosen the weak things of this world to shame the mighty, that no flesh may glory in His sight.

Please review complete passage for yourself when you can; it will be well worth the time spent. Furthermore, during today's Mass, the priest has the options to use the Preface for the Common of Virgins or the Preface from the Common of Martyrs. The Preface from the Common of Martyrs reads as follows:

Your holy martyr Agnes followed the example of Christ, and gave her life for the glory of your name. Her death reveals your power shining through our human weakness. You choose the weak to make them strong in bearing witness to you, through Jesus Christ our Lord. [Actually, there's more, but this is the main part.]

Now we add some thoughts "of our own":

Saint Agnes had consecrated herself to Christ. The Lord Jesus was her divine Spouse. The selfish and powerful of this world tried to make her sin and thus deny Jesus. But God uses His little, humble saints to shame the powerful and the proud, that no flesh may glory in His sight. Saint Agnes, holy virgin ever faithful to Jesus, she is a great martyr who defeated the proud and the powerful of this world. If we humbly rely on God, we will do the same. Each one of us is baptized and thus called to be a saint.