Thoughts for the day from St Ignatius of Antioch

I was struck by two phrases in yesterday morning's second lection at the Office of Readings. The passage was from St Ignatius of Antioch's Letter to the Romans, and seemed hight relevant to current topics within the Church.

Christianity lies in achieving greatness in the face of a world's hatred seems a by no means inaccurate description of the Pope and others at the present time.

When there is no trace of my body left for the world to see then I shall truly be Jesus Christ's disciple seemed very apposite to the lack of the physical remains of John Henry Newman.

Both points struck home with some force in my tiny brain as a neat blend of the general truth and the particular circumstance.