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BayCityRickL
Guest
Do you have what it takes to be a martyr for the faith?
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thistle
Guest
I guess many, including myself, would like to think they do but that is a question which can only be answered such a time comes. It cannot be answered in advance.
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Fidelis
Guest
Ditto.
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Flopfoot
Guest
Isn’t it funny? Someone asked me just an hour ago if I would refuse to deny my faith at gunpoint. I’ve thought about this before. I told em, yea I would.
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puzzleannie
Guest
I think I, like many Christians, would behave like Peter, eager to walk with Jesus to Jerusalem, swearing loyalty, only to deny him practically to his face, to weep bitterly in contrition, to take up my cross again and again, to walk toward martyrdom in Rome, to vacillate and turn away again, to be confronted by Christ, and finally to embrace his will, knowing martyrdom is certain.
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vern_humphrey
Guest
“Marrtyr” means witness. All of us are called to be witnesses, but not necessarily to the death. Each of us should periodically ask ourselves, “What have I done lately to fulfil my duty to be a witness for Christ?”
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Ani_Ibi
Guest
There is a martyrdom of blood and there is a white martyrdom.
BayCityRickL:
What has made it a more bitter experience is that the Catholics in my parish deny that we live in an anti-Catholic society. The local newpaper editor would rather print sensational victimy articles about helpless women than about a real story about a Catholic who takes her faith seriously and fights against real hate activity with real references to the writings of JPII.
No. But that hasn’t stopped the white martyrdom which has been upon me these last five years. I live in a neighbourhood where it is acceptable to hate Catholics. Quite regularly vile strawman accusations are shouted at me on the way to the grocery store. The locals have made it against the law – their law – to post religious symbols. This is a clearcut violation of the Charter and yet they are getting away with it. I am excluded from social groups, committee meetings, power.
What has made it a more bitter experience is that the Catholics in my parish deny that we live in an anti-Catholic society. The local newpaper editor would rather print sensational victimy articles about helpless women than about a real story about a Catholic who takes her faith seriously and fights against real hate activity with real references to the writings of JPII.
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trumpet152
Guest
I’d hope I’d be willing to die for Christ. In the mean time, I’ll just keep trying to live for him.
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EsclavoDeCristo
Guest
I think you wont know until the HS gives you the grace at the moment of decision.
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Scott_Waddell
Guest
That’s right on. I’ve heard several people say they would gladly die for the faith. I worry these folk could be setting themselves up for a big fall. It’s a gift, not an exercise of raw willpower.
Scott
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contemplative
Guest
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Steven_Merten
Guest
Are you ready to offer up your children to torture and martyrdom?
NAB 2MC 7:1 Martyrdom of a Mother and Her Sons.
It also happened that seven brothers with their mother were arrested and tortured with whips and scourges by the king, to force them to eat pork in violation of God’s law. One of the brothers, speaking for the others, said: What do you expect to achieve by questioning us? We are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our ancestors. At that the king, in a fury, gave orders to have pans and caldrons heated. While they were being quickly heated, he commanded his executioners to cut out the tongue of the one who had spoken for the others, to scalp him and cut off his hands and feet, while the rest of his brothers and his mother looked on. When he was completely maimed but still breathing, the king ordered them to carry him to the fire and fry him. As a cloud of smoke spread from the pan, the brothers and their mother encouraged one another to die bravely, saying such words as these: “The LORD God is looking on, and he truly has compassion on us, as Moses declared in his canticle, when he protested openly with the words, ‘And he will have pity on his servants.’”
When the first brother had died in this manner, they brought the second to be made sport of. After tearing off the skin and hair of his head, they asked him, “Will you eat the pork rather than have your body tortured limb by limb?” Answering in the language of his forefathers, he said, “Never!” So he too in turn suffered the same tortures as the first. At the point of death he said: “You accursed fiend, you are depriving us of this present life, but** the King of the world will raise us up to live again forever. It is for his laws that we are dying.**”
After him the third suffered their cruel sport. He put out his tongue at once when told to do so, and bravely held out his hands, as he spoke these noble words: “It was from Heaven that I received these: for the sake of his laws I disdain them.” Even the king and his attendants marveled at the young man’s courage, because he regarded his sufferings as nothing.
After he had died, they tortured and maltreated the fourth brother in the same way. When he was near death, he said, “**It is my choice to die at the hands of men with the God-given hope of being restored to life by him; but for you there will be no resurrection to life. **”
They next brought forward the fifth brother and maltreated him. Looking at the king, he said: "Since you have power among men, mortal though you are, do what you please. But do not think that our nation is forsaken by God. Only wait, and you will see how his great power will torment you and your descendants. "
After him they brought the sixth brother. When he was about to die, he said: “Have no vain illusions. We suffer these things on our own account, because we have sinned against our God; that is why such astonishing things have happened to us. Do not think, then, that you will go unpunished for having dared to fight against God.”
continued;
NAB 2MC 7:1 Martyrdom of a Mother and Her Sons.
It also happened that seven brothers with their mother were arrested and tortured with whips and scourges by the king, to force them to eat pork in violation of God’s law. One of the brothers, speaking for the others, said: What do you expect to achieve by questioning us? We are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our ancestors. At that the king, in a fury, gave orders to have pans and caldrons heated. While they were being quickly heated, he commanded his executioners to cut out the tongue of the one who had spoken for the others, to scalp him and cut off his hands and feet, while the rest of his brothers and his mother looked on. When he was completely maimed but still breathing, the king ordered them to carry him to the fire and fry him. As a cloud of smoke spread from the pan, the brothers and their mother encouraged one another to die bravely, saying such words as these: “The LORD God is looking on, and he truly has compassion on us, as Moses declared in his canticle, when he protested openly with the words, ‘And he will have pity on his servants.’”
When the first brother had died in this manner, they brought the second to be made sport of. After tearing off the skin and hair of his head, they asked him, “Will you eat the pork rather than have your body tortured limb by limb?” Answering in the language of his forefathers, he said, “Never!” So he too in turn suffered the same tortures as the first. At the point of death he said: “You accursed fiend, you are depriving us of this present life, but** the King of the world will raise us up to live again forever. It is for his laws that we are dying.**”
After him the third suffered their cruel sport. He put out his tongue at once when told to do so, and bravely held out his hands, as he spoke these noble words: “It was from Heaven that I received these: for the sake of his laws I disdain them.” Even the king and his attendants marveled at the young man’s courage, because he regarded his sufferings as nothing.
After he had died, they tortured and maltreated the fourth brother in the same way. When he was near death, he said, “**It is my choice to die at the hands of men with the God-given hope of being restored to life by him; but for you there will be no resurrection to life. **”
They next brought forward the fifth brother and maltreated him. Looking at the king, he said: "Since you have power among men, mortal though you are, do what you please. But do not think that our nation is forsaken by God. Only wait, and you will see how his great power will torment you and your descendants. "
After him they brought the sixth brother. When he was about to die, he said: “Have no vain illusions. We suffer these things on our own account, because we have sinned against our God; that is why such astonishing things have happened to us. Do not think, then, that you will go unpunished for having dared to fight against God.”
continued;
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Steven_Merten
Guest
continued;
Most admirable and worthy of everlasting remembrance was the mother, who saw her seven sons perish in a single day, yet bore it courageously because of her hope in the LORD. Filled with a noble spirit that stirred her womanly heart with manly courage, she exhorted each of them in the language of their forefathers with these words: “I do not know how you came into existence in my womb; it was not I who gave you the breath of life, nor was it I who set in order the elements of which each of you is composed. Therefore, since it is the Creator of the universe who shapes each man’s beginning, as he brings about the origin of everything, he, in his mercy, will give you back both breath and life, because you now disregard yourselves for the sake of his law.”
Antiochus, suspecting insult in her words, thought he was being ridiculed. As the youngest brother was still alive, the king appealed to him, not with mere words, but with promises on oath, to make him rich and happy if he would abandon his ancestral customs: he would make him his Friend and **entrust him with high office. **When the youth paid no attention to him at all, the king appealed to the mother, urging her to advise her boy to save his life.
After he had urged her for a long time, she went through the motions of persuading her son. In derision of the cruel tyrant, she leaned over close to her son and said in their native language: "Son, have pity on me, who carried you in my womb for nine months, nursed you for three years, brought you up, educated and supported you to your present age. I beg you, child, to look at the heavens and the earth and see all that is in them; then you will know that God did not make them out of existing things; and in the same way the human race came into existence.** Do not be afraid of this executioner, but be worthy of your brothers and accept death, so that** in the time of mercy I may receive you again with them."
She had scarcely finished speaking when the youth said: “What are you waiting for? I will not obey the king’s command. I obey the command of the law given to our forefathers through Moses. But you, who have contrived every kind of affliction for the Hebrews, will not escape the hands of God. We indeed, are suffering because of our sins. Though our living LORD treats us harshly for a little while to correct us with chastisements, he will again be reconciled with his servants. But you, wretch, vilest of all men! do not, in your insolence, concern yourself with unfounded hopes, as you raise your hand against the children of Heaven. You have not yet escaped the judgment of the almighty and all-seeing God. My brothers, after enduring brief pain, have drunk of never-failing life, under God’s covenant but you, by the judgment of God, shall receive just punishments for your arrogance.”
“Like my brothers, I offer up my body and my life for our ancestral laws, imploring God to show mercy soon to our nation, and by afflictions and blows to make you confess that he alone is God.”
“Through me and my brothers, may there be an end to the wrath of the Almighty that has justly fallen on our whole nation.” At that, the king became enraged and treated him even worse than the others, since he bitterly resented the boy’s contempt. Thus he too died undefiled, putting all his trust in the LORD.
Most admirable and worthy of everlasting remembrance was the mother, who saw her seven sons perish in a single day, yet bore it courageously because of her hope in the LORD. Filled with a noble spirit that stirred her womanly heart with manly courage, she exhorted each of them in the language of their forefathers with these words: “I do not know how you came into existence in my womb; it was not I who gave you the breath of life, nor was it I who set in order the elements of which each of you is composed. Therefore, since it is the Creator of the universe who shapes each man’s beginning, as he brings about the origin of everything, he, in his mercy, will give you back both breath and life, because you now disregard yourselves for the sake of his law.”
Antiochus, suspecting insult in her words, thought he was being ridiculed. As the youngest brother was still alive, the king appealed to him, not with mere words, but with promises on oath, to make him rich and happy if he would abandon his ancestral customs: he would make him his Friend and **entrust him with high office. **When the youth paid no attention to him at all, the king appealed to the mother, urging her to advise her boy to save his life.
After he had urged her for a long time, she went through the motions of persuading her son. In derision of the cruel tyrant, she leaned over close to her son and said in their native language: "Son, have pity on me, who carried you in my womb for nine months, nursed you for three years, brought you up, educated and supported you to your present age. I beg you, child, to look at the heavens and the earth and see all that is in them; then you will know that God did not make them out of existing things; and in the same way the human race came into existence.** Do not be afraid of this executioner, but be worthy of your brothers and accept death, so that** in the time of mercy I may receive you again with them."
She had scarcely finished speaking when the youth said: “What are you waiting for? I will not obey the king’s command. I obey the command of the law given to our forefathers through Moses. But you, who have contrived every kind of affliction for the Hebrews, will not escape the hands of God. We indeed, are suffering because of our sins. Though our living LORD treats us harshly for a little while to correct us with chastisements, he will again be reconciled with his servants. But you, wretch, vilest of all men! do not, in your insolence, concern yourself with unfounded hopes, as you raise your hand against the children of Heaven. You have not yet escaped the judgment of the almighty and all-seeing God. My brothers, after enduring brief pain, have drunk of never-failing life, under God’s covenant but you, by the judgment of God, shall receive just punishments for your arrogance.”
“Like my brothers, I offer up my body and my life for our ancestral laws, imploring God to show mercy soon to our nation, and by afflictions and blows to make you confess that he alone is God.”
“Through me and my brothers, may there be an end to the wrath of the Almighty that has justly fallen on our whole nation.” At that, the king became enraged and treated him even worse than the others, since he bitterly resented the boy’s contempt. Thus he too died undefiled, putting all his trust in the LORD.
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mumto5
Guest
No. I’m afraid not. My children need me, I couldn’t get past that.
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vern_humphrey
Guest
From the Diary of Perpetua:
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wcknight
Guest
I am a devout coward, BUT IF I were to ever have to be faced with such a decision, I pray the Lord will grant me enough courage to endure to the end and to do so willingly without hesitation.
J
JGheen
Guest
I could make one grand gesture easier than the million small gestures required in daily life.
The problem with being a living sacrifice for God is that you are constantly tempted to crawl off the alter . . .
The problem with being a living sacrifice for God is that you are constantly tempted to crawl off the alter . . .
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sweetchuck
Guest
Sometimes, God does not want to take the blood you wish to offer him. Consider St. John the Evangelist, caretaker of Jesus’ mother…
John was willing and ready to be a martyr. And after Peter has his martyrdom foretold, Jesus says, “If it is my will that he [John] remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!” (Jn. 21)
“Emperor Dometian had him [John] brought to Rome, beaten, poisoned, and thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil, but he stepped out unharmed and was banished to Patmos instead.”
catholic-forum.com/saints/saintj13.htm
But there will be more to come.
“When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne; they cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before thou wilt judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell upon the earth?”
Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.”
(Rev. 6:9-11)
Holy Spirit, build us in the virtue of fortitude that we have the strength to walk into the cauldron of boiling oil to bear witness to the testimony of the Lamb. Our fate we lay in your hands, oh righteous God of truth and freedom. Accept our offering if it pleases you. Our earthly life is an unmerited gift, as is eternal life. You pour out both with abundance. Give us the strength to pour out our will at the foot of your altar if you would so ask it of us.
St. John the Evangelist, caretaker of Our Lady, though you were willing to be martyred, you died naturally, pray for us.
St. Polycarp, you were John’s disciple, you were martyred for Christ, pray for us.
John was willing and ready to be a martyr. And after Peter has his martyrdom foretold, Jesus says, “If it is my will that he [John] remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!” (Jn. 21)
“Emperor Dometian had him [John] brought to Rome, beaten, poisoned, and thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil, but he stepped out unharmed and was banished to Patmos instead.”
catholic-forum.com/saints/saintj13.htm
But there will be more to come.
“When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne; they cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before thou wilt judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell upon the earth?”
Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.”
(Rev. 6:9-11)
Holy Spirit, build us in the virtue of fortitude that we have the strength to walk into the cauldron of boiling oil to bear witness to the testimony of the Lamb. Our fate we lay in your hands, oh righteous God of truth and freedom. Accept our offering if it pleases you. Our earthly life is an unmerited gift, as is eternal life. You pour out both with abundance. Give us the strength to pour out our will at the foot of your altar if you would so ask it of us.
St. John the Evangelist, caretaker of Our Lady, though you were willing to be martyred, you died naturally, pray for us.
St. Polycarp, you were John’s disciple, you were martyred for Christ, pray for us.
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Daniel_Kane
Guest
Noted Catholic author Amy Welborn once wrote *“I could be a martyr if they killed me quick” *and I echo her tongue in cheek sentiments.
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Magicsilence
Guest
It doesnt take much to say yes to a gun kind of death.
Would you be willing to endure crucifixion for Christ is a better question?
If I am not, then my faith is weak.
Strengthen me my Lord and my God.
In Christ.
Andre.
Would you be willing to endure crucifixion for Christ is a better question?
If I am not, then my faith is weak.
Strengthen me my Lord and my God.
In Christ.
Andre.
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