June 3.  Ugandan Martyrs. St Charles Lwanga. St Kizito.   There were some Ugandan children in the catechism class and they knew all about the story of the 22 Ugandan martyrs. They shared some of the horrific and cruel ways in which they died in the 1880s at the command of the king.  Some were young boys, like St Kizito the youngest of the martyrs was only 13 and passionate about his faith.  One was ruler’s own son and others were officials at the court who disagreed with the king  and protected some of the young pages from his homosexual demands.  This allowed deacon Samuel to open the subject of sexual orientation with the class too. Young people are having to face this challenge and be helped to understand their genuine developing gender identity without just exploring what is considered fashionable.       

Reflect, share, act. Scripture:  Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, not anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Rom 8:39          Pope Francis:   To respond to our vocation we need to foster and develop all that we are.  This has nothing to do with inventing ourselves or creating ourselves out of nothing.  It has to do with finding our true selves in the light of God and letting our lives flourish and bear fruit.  CV 257.