Today we celebrate the life of St Agnes (the patron saint of our Parish) as Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Mark (3: 13-19) in which Jesus went up on a mountainside and called those he wanted to him, they came and he appointed twelve to be his companions.As with a lot of the early Roman martyrs, Fr Paul says, very little is known about Agnes’ life and it is also made all the more difficult because Agnes was about 12 years old when she was killed for her faith so hers was only a short life to start with.  Fr Paul says, we do know that Agnes loved God. She loved God very much, to the point that she took a vow of celibacy. When she was threatened with having to  deny God and marry, she would not and so she was put to death. She was martyred. Mindful of Agnes – this 12 year old child’s profession of faith and her commitment to it – Fr Paul says, we might ask ourselves, ‘Do I have the courage to do what Agnes did and refuse to compromise my faith and my commitments?’. Today in the life of the Church we ask St Agnes, pray for us!