For by grace you have been saved through faith,
and this is not from you; it is the gift of God;
it is not from works, so no one may boast.
For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for good works
that God has prepared in advance,
that we should live in them.
Today's martyred saints represent a Catholic story that may sound strange to many American Catholics. We might recognize the value of martyrdom for those who couageously remained when the world around them turned hostile toward religion in general and Catholics in particular. I think of the priests Saint Maximillian Kolbe and religious like Saint Theresa Benedicta of the Cross. Th citizens of their own homelands inexplicably turned to evil.
But John de Brebeuf and Isaac Jogues left the relative safety of France in pursuit of martyrdom. They knew the danger and the likely outcome. The protomartyrs of the Franciscan Order did the same thing. They walked from Italy to Spain and crossed to Morocco, where they publicly berated Mohammed and the Islamic religion. Warned of their danger by apparently reluctant officials, they continued the outrage until the same officials violently, viciously slew them.
Blessed Raymond Lull, as the age of 79, went to North Africa in 1314 to be a missionary/martyr. An angry crowd of Muslims stoned him in the city of Bougie. Genoese merchants took him back to Mallorca, where he died. Raymond was beatified in 1514 and his liturgical feast is celebrated on June 30.
Saint Francis of Assisi also left Italy where he was well-known and greatly admired to seek martyrdom. The stowaway sailed to the front of the Crusaders invasion of Egypt and crossed enemy lines with the intention of berating Islam as his younger friars had. However, the Little Poor Man ("il Poverello") seemed incapable of deliberate rudeness and charmed Sultan Malik-el-Kamil with his joyous love God. And after touring Jerusalem with the blessings of the warrior king, he returned home disappointed!
These antics might seem over the top to some American Catholics. They might wonder if these heroes were driven by a less worthy impulse than love of God. But we cannot judge our ancestors by today's standards. Not every age has regarded good health and long life as realistic or attainable goals. Why would you expect a long life, or try to attain it, when Death might cut short the healthiest people, and often did? Until recently not many people celebrate their fiftieth anniversary of marriage, priesthood, or graduation, and fewer attained a hundred years.
We should hope our ancestors do not judge us harshly for living within a society where nudity, adultery, divorce, abortion, and "assisted" suicide are common. These are troubled times, and our confusion about true holiness runs deep. Many devout Catholics believe that some individuals are created homosexual or trans, and judge other Catholics as immoral for not accepting such nonsense.
In our time the impulse which impels people to seek martyrdom seems bizarre. Perhaps we're not given the Spirit which drove Jesus to Jerusalem and Calvary.
Rather than judging their zeal as unnecessary, we would do better to pray that these courageous men and women will admit us to their company, as we remember and admire their ardor.
