The soldier who became the priest he once guarded

A soldier is escorting a condemned bishop to prison, and he cannot stop watching how the prisoner suffers.

Augustine Zhao Rong first appears in the record as a Chinese soldier assigned to guard Bishop John Gabriel Dufresse during persecution. The bishop was a prisoner, but the patience with which he endured captivity reached the man guarding him.

Zhao Rong asked to become a Christian. He was baptized, entered the seminary, and was ordained a diocesan priest.

His new life did not protect him from the persecution he had once served. He was arrested, tortured, and died in 1815. He watched how a condemned Christian suffered, allowed that witness to judge his own life, and accepted the same danger rather than abandon the faith he had received.

Let one person's patience under pressure judge your own life today, and answer it.

Lord Jesus, You reached a guard through the patience of his prisoner. Let me be reached the same way. Give me the courage to follow what I have seen, whatever it costs. Amen.