Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand,
for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking
that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.
You will even be handed over by parents,
brothers, relatives, and friends,
and they will put some of you to death.
Once, amid a group of people whom I respected and trusted, I was given an experience of most unusual, if not "complete," vulnerability. The word is often used by flattering media interviewers to discuss their guests acting performance or perhaps a book they had written. So I use the word reluctantly when I speak of myself or my experience.
But I think of that long ago moment, and imagine the freedom of many Christian martyrs before their tormentors. It is very hard to describe, and even that single moment in my life I would not describe to many. (The Internet is not the place for that.)
Despite the extreme pain they suffered, the futility of every effort to relieve their pain, their helpless humiliation before their enemies and tormentors, and the certain death that was rapidly coming at them, they spoke freely of the Lord and insisted that they still waited upon his deliverance. Some, like Saint Lawrence the Deacon, openly laughed at the effort of their tormentors. In other cases, as the Book of Maccabees describes, their tormentors admitted their failure. King Antiochus, in the Second Book of Maccabees, was overcome by the courage of his martyred victims; and ask the boys' mother for help before he murdered her.
That is hard to imagine and yet we know these stories are true. Warriors, fighting in defense of homeland and loved ones, sometimes demonstrate that freedom, but they have weapons and intend to take their enemies with them into death. True martyrs harm no one. They are overcome by their simple, naked honesty. They speak the truth and stand by the truth, and nothing can dissuade them from it.
Today, Franciscans celebrate the memorial of Saint Leonard of Port Maurice. A ferocious preacher, he doubted that many of his listeners or readers would be saved. He was surely familiar with the stories of martyrs and he looked into that Mirror of Perfection and saw his own cowardice and that of his contemporaries. But thousands of people flocked to hear him speak and to gaze into the awful mirror he held before them.
During this season when we contemplate death and judgment, heaven and hell, we do well to ask God for the freedom of the martyrs as we study our faith and share with our loved ones.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.