34. Martyrs

The Gospel can never be accused of false publicity. No sound of trumpets in the market place! "They will lay hands on you and persecute you" (Luke 2I.I2) It is clear. "That will be the occasion for you to bear witness." But why exactly in persecution? Therein lies the question!

"Make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves".

What we most often have in our heads are the answers, and often answers to questions that no one has ever asked. Here Jesus asks us not to worry about them. Contrary to what we often think, witnessing is not an intellectual exercise, nor a bombarding with precepts and canons, even the Canon Law variety! For twenty centuries, history has proved this, from the time of Blandine the catechist, to Jeanne d'Arc and Bernadette of Lourdes: those unable to read or write have shown themselves strong in logical argument, whether their questioners be hostile pagans or qualified theologians.

"I will give you language and wisdom which none of you..." (Matt. I0. I9-20) What have we to witness to? Certainly not to ideas or complicated systems. No, what we are asked to bear witness to, is faith, and above all to trust: a peaceful and sure relationship with God, which is unruffled and determined. And this relationship lives and breathes and is proved minute by minute, so strong and so intense, that the persecuted one finds himself identified with Christ. "Why are you persecuting me?" He is at that moment, the living body of Christ at its most sensitive and most vulnerable point.

But that is not everything. The martyr must be prepared for real hardship, even to living a paradox.: "You will be betrayed by your parents, your brothers, your family and your friends; some of you will even be put to death." (Mark I3. I2) Your friends will turn into your worst enemies, the most cruel and the most intransigent: as was the case with Jesus, rejected by the Chosen People and in His favourite city. "You will be hated by all for My Name's sake," (Mark I3.I3.) Detested, those who witness to Love! Killed, those who witness to Life! Excluded, those who announce pardon and forgiveness!

It is because they are testifying to a love so strong and so open, that those who wish to content themselves with clan solidarity and the culture of the tribe, are unable to endure it. Every self-seeking and exclusive love, every affective bond that is ungenerous and too limited, dissolves and burns up before the love of the living God.

Let us be at peace, without bothering about what is going to happen, or what we have to say. And because it is not often that we are asked to confront trials such as these, at least let us be afraid of nothing. How is it that there are so many Christians, so many priests and Religious suffering from anguish and depression? If they are worrying about the shortage of labourers, let them begin with themselves, trusting simply in God. In order that we may have a future, at least let us give ourselves a present!