St. Nicholas Owen and Where's Waldo

St. Nicholas Owen was one of the English gang who were martyred for having the temerity of being Catholic during the whole “are we Catholic or are we Anglican” phase in England. St. Nicholas was a carpenter and used his talents to build priest hiding holes and to help prisoners escape the Tower of London. He used a variety of aliases but that all stopped when he gave himself up to create a diversion for a priest to scoot out.

In fact, Robert Cecil, the Secretary of State, almost peed in his fancy English breeches when they caught Nicholas. Apparently, Nicholas was quite infamous for building Elizabethan Where’s Father Waldo concealments.

What impressed me most about Nicholas was that he willingly surrendered. Here was a guy who spent his life shying away from the public light and even aided others to hide. He must have known the penalty for being Catholic in those turbulent times. I know there was no Facebook but surely he knew of the Iron Maiden (the device, not the band) or even the rack.

That is the true definition of courage—doing the right thing even if you’re frightened. And that goes hand in hand with love. Nicholas had a great love for his fellow Catholics. He exemplified 1 Corinthians 13:13 “as it is, these remain: faith, hope and love, the three of them; and the greatest of them is love.”

I work in a media center in a typical American middle school. When I think I see it all, God throws me for a loop. One 7^th grader came in and asked me for books on maps, specifically a map of Laos or Thailand. You see, there was a Hmong student who didn’t have many friends. The map seeker wanted to change that so he asked about the Hmong culture.

I just wanted to hug this student. Here was 12 year old young man looking to put another at ease and at the same time, put himself out there to be ridiculed for befriending an outcast in the classroom. Any child knows about bullying. Either you’ve been bullied, know someone who has been bullied or you’ve been a bully. I’m sure there is a 7^th grade Robert Cecil in Levis and Reeboks ready to ridicule this boy and the Hmong student. Yet, the map seeker knows this and showed bravery most adults don’t have.

I am ashamed to say that I don’t have that courage and maybe God is trying to teach me that brave is not only a noun but a verb too.