Fidelity and Courageous Witness

Homily for Tuesday of the Sixth Week in Easter

Today is the Memorial of St. Leopold, a Franciscan friar known for his compassion for penitents. We also celebrate the second of the cold or ice saints, St. Pancratius or Pancras, a 14-year-old Roman martyr, beheaded under Diocletian around the year 304. The memorials of St. Leopold Mandić and St. Pancras give today’s readings a beautiful, challenging edge: the Kingdom grows through quiet fidelity and courageous witness, and the Holy Spirit strengthens us in both.

In Acts 14, Paul is stoned, dragged out of the city, and left for dead. Yet he rises—literally rises—and goes back to strengthening the disciples. He tells them that “it is necessary to undergo many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.” That’s not pessimism. It’s clarity. The Kingdom is real, and it is worth everything.

St. Pancras, a young Roman martyr, lived that truth. At only fourteen, he chose Christ over the demands of the empire. His witness echoes Paul’s: the Kingdom is worth your life because it gives you life.

St. Leopold Mandić lived the same Gospel in a very different way. A small, frail Capuchin priest, he spent decades in the confessional, offering mercy to thousands. He longed for Christian unity and believed that every act of forgiveness helped rebuild the Church. His witness wasn’t dramatic like martyrdom—it was the daily, hidden heroism of mercy.

Both saints show us what Paul lived: the Kingdom advances through suffering borne with love, through fidelity that doesn’t quit, through mercy that refuses to run dry.

And in John 16, Jesus promises the Advocate—the Holy Spirit—who will strengthen the disciples when Jesus is no longer physically with them. The Spirit convicts the world, guides the Church, and gives courage to saints young and old, hidden and heroic. Let us embrace the strength we receive through the Holy Spirit.