The Commemoration of Daniel and the Three Young Men

Today marks our first commemoration of Old Testament saints, the prophets Daniel and three Hebrew youths, Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael. The story is told in the Book of Daniel, which is too rich to summarize here with much justice. It gives us powerful examples of religious fidelity during the Babylonian Captivity in the 6th-Century BC, when Israel’s God must have seemed very distant.
One episode illustrates to trials of living in a world hostile to the faith. Daniel 3 is the story of the three young men, to whom Nebuchadnezzar had given the new names Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Although it loses a little something in the telling (including the prospect of a preincarnate Christ), I rather like this reading by the Rev. Louis Armstrong.

Other entries in this series:

“Taking Back St. Nick” by Zach Wendling
“St. Ambrose” by Zach Wendling
“Pope Saint Damascus I” by Joshua Claybourn
“St. John of the Cross” by David Darlington