Friday, February 6, 2015

Giving One's Life for Christ: A Bloodless "Martrydom"



Today, the Church celebrates the feast of Saint Paul Miki and Companions who, in 1597, were martyred by crucifixion in Nagasaki, Japan.  The Entrance Antiphon for the liturgy reads as follows:  “Holy men shed their glorious blood for the Lord; they loved Christ in their life, they imitated him in their death, and therefore were crowned in triumph.”  Today is also the feast of the martyrdom of St. Dorothy, a resident of Caesarea, Cappadocia, who was martyred in 303 when she refused to sacrifice to the gods during Emperor Diocletian’s persecution of Christians.  Not just men, but many women “have shed their glorious blood for the Lord; they [too] loved Christ in their life, they [too] imitated him in their death, and therefore… [are] crowned in triumph.”

Martyrdom continues to this very day—men and women tortured and put to death for their faith in Christ Jesus. There are other forms of martyrdom, besides shedding of one’s blood. There is the martyrdom of love.  Selfishness is put to death for the sake of another.  Harsh words are sacrificed so others live “richer” lives through the patience, kindness, and mercy of another.  A betrayal of the innocence of a child is aborted, when a child is not sold to sex traffickers, drug traffickers, slave owners because someone courageously refuses to cooperate with evil.  There is the martyrdom—the dying to fear—when a spouse seeks help for her/himself instead of continuing to enable abusive behavior. These are not martyrs who put to death their hopelessness, their powerlessness and lovingly choose to do what Jesus would do for the good of another and/or of themselves. There is the daily giving of oneself for the sake of one’s family—not a martyrdom of shedding one’s blood but of giving the best of oneself for the sake of one’s children.

Persons who do these things are loving Christ in their life, imitating Christ in His death whereby He poured out His love for us. And, yes, these persons will be “crowned in triumph.”

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