Who are the martyrs? They are Christians who have been “earned” by
Christ, disciples who have learnt well the sense of that “love to the
extreme limit” which led Jesus to the Cross. There is no such thing as
love in installments, no such thing as portions of love. Total love: and
when we love, we love till the end. On the Cross, Jesus felt the weight
of death, the weight of sin, but he gave himself over to the Father
entirely, and he forgave. He barely spoke, but he gave the gift of life.
Christ “beats” us in love; the martyrs imitated him in love until the
very end.
The Sainted Fathers say: “Let’s imitate the martyrs!” We
must always die a little in order to come out of ourselves, of our
selfishness, of our well-being, of our laziness, of our sadnesses, and
open up to God, to others, especially those who need it most.
We
implore the intercession of the martyrs, that we may be concrete
Christians, Christians in deeds and not just in words, that we may not
be mediocre Christians, Christians painted in a superficial coating of
Christianity without substance – they weren’t painted, they were
Christians until the end. We ask them for help in keeping our faith
firm, that even throughout our difficulties we may nourish hope and
foster brotherhood and solidarity.
Acknowledging the perfect joy of suffering in Christ, but having a little fun along the way.
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