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Today I want to begin by thinking about fireworks, a little late for Bonfire Night I know, but bear with me. The Catherine wheel is a well known firework that produces a rotating flare of sparks, usually accompanied by shrieks of delight. Less well known is the origin of the name of this flaming wheel. It鈥檚 named after St Catherine of Alexandria whose feast day it is today. She was a Christian woman of great ability and influence who lived in North Africa in the early Fourth Century when Christianity was still outlawed. She refused to deny her faith and the authorities wanted to torture her by tying her to a wheel. But, miraculously, when she touched it, the wheel broke in pieces so she was saved from torture and executed instead. She is a popular saint and is often depicted in art with a broken wheel beside her, hence the Catherine wheel.

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There are many legends about Catherine鈥檚 life and death; her story may well be the combination of many African women鈥檚 stories into one legend. So what is celebrated today is the memory of many Christian women martyrs in North Africa at that time. I want to extend that memory to the many brave women in Africa in our time who are trapped on the gruelling wheels of disease and poverty. Like Catherine, they鈥檙e not giving up their struggle but they need a miracle to break those wheels. When I read about the NHS staff who are going to Sierra Leone to treat Ebola and when I meet religious sisters from overseas whose lives are dedicated to running HIV/AIDS clinics in South Africa, I see that miracles do still happen. The miracle of a selfless love so strong that it breaks wheels and save lives. Thanks be to God.