What do you approach in life with the most determination? How would your life be different if you pursued Heaven that way?

In the ninth chapter of Luke’s Gospel, we read about Jesus on pilgrimage to Jerusalem: “Now it happened that as the time drew near for Him to be taken up to Heaven, He resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51).”

Jesus knew he was going to be arrested and crucified in Jerusalem. But he was so determined that nothing could stop him from fulfilling his mission.

We find echoes of this determination in the saints, especially in Saints Agape, Chionia, and Irene. They were sisters so determined to live out their faith that they endured torture and death in order to follow Jesus’ example.

The three sisters lived in Thessalonica, where Saint Paul had founded a church two and a half centuries earlier. Agape, Chionia, and Irene soon encountered persecution from Roman authorities, and were told they must sacrifice to the Roman gods. The sisters, however, did not give in. Eventually, they were arrested and interrogated under brutal torture. None of them said a word about where the church met, who the priest was, or any other Christians in Thessalonica.

Ultimately, the sisters were brought before the prefect Minicius. Offered one final chance to save themselves by sacrificing to pagan gods, their determination remained unshaken. What do you and I approach with the kind of determination Jesus and these saints had? Probably nothing. And what does that say about us?

As a result of their unshakable faith, Agape and Chionia were sentenced to be burned alive, while Irene, who was further interrogated and refused to give up sacred texts, was shot with arrows.

The virtue of determination allows us to focus on a task and see it through to completion. Just keep moving in the direction of your goal or destination. Determination is taking the next step, no matter how small that step may be.

Are you determined? It's time to bring a new level of determination to our lives. However you feel called to grow in your spiritual life, take the next step today.

Feast Day Shared By: Saint Sixtus I, Saint John of Naples, and Saint Richard