Saint José Luis Sánchez del Rio Long Live Christ the King! Joselito Prayer: Dear Lord, Help me to be courageous and steadfast in my devotion to you. Help me to identify causes and injustices in my day that are worth defending and standing up for. Give me perseverance and a desire to help others at any cost. Help me to revere Christ as the king of my life. Saint José Sánchez del Rio, pray for us. They tore off the skin from his feet At first, Rafael Picazo did not want to kill him, so he made several tempting proposals to get him to renounce his Catholic faith. He offered to enroll him in the regime's prestigious military school and even send him to the United States. However, José rejected them. Then, Picazo asked the family for five thousand gold pesos to free him. His father gathered the money, but José asked him not to pay the ransom because he had already offered his life to God and "his faith was not for sale." Two witnesses to the martyrdom recounted that, already in the inn, the soldiers tore off the skin from the soles of his feet with a knife. Then they made him walk to the cemetery, while beating him. They wanted to force him to renounce his faith with torture, but they did not succeed. In the cemetery, the head of the soldiers ordered him to be stabbed so that the shots could not be heard. With each stab, José shouted: “Long live Christ the King!”, “Long live Saint Mary of Guadalupe!” Then the boss shot him twice in the head. It was 11:30 p.m. on February 10, 1928. Amen. or Dear Lord, Help me to be brave and strong. Help me to pray for those who hurt me and those who hurt others. You are the king of my life. Help me to listen to you and to tell others about you. Saint José Sánchez del Rio, pray for us. Amen.