“… You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” – Acts 1:8
The Scripture quote above comes from this Sunday’s first reading. The word “witnesses” is particularly important. Can you guess what it is in the original Greek?
dμάρτυρες = martyrs
How startlingly true those words from Jesus have proven to be. When we think of martyrs we usually picture people being fed to lions in the Coliseum. But, the reality is that there are about 100,000 new Christian martyrs each year. In other words, across the globe, 11 people die for their faith in Christ every hour.It is estimated that there have been about 70 million Christian martyrs since the first century. The majority of these executions (about 45 million) have taken place within the last hundred years.
Most recently, the world has seen the incredibly gruesome slayings of Christians in Iraq, Libya, and elsewhere by the Islamic State. What are we to do? In the words of Saint Padre Pio; “Pray, hope, and don’t worry.”
These barbaric terrorists fail to understand the wise words of the great ecclesiastical writer Tertullian: “The more we are mown down by you, the more in number we grow; the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church” (Apologeticus, 50).
Indeed, the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church (Mt. 16:18). Her King reigns victorious over death, and darkness trembles at the mention of His Name. “By the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony…” the glorious martyrs have conquered evil. “Love for life did not deter them from death” (Rev. 12:11).
Therefore, let us follow their example by loving our enemies and praying for our persecutors. Through true charity we can confound the powers of evil and dispel the darkness. By dying to our selfish inclinations on a daily basis we can indeed become martyrs – witnesses – to the Light of Christ and the love of God.
Lord Jesus, mighty King, hear our Easter prayer. Through the intercession of the great cloud of witnesses who surround Your throne, grant that we may have the grace to give our lives for the glory of Your Name. Amen. Alleluia!
