JULY22017

Throughout the history of the Church there have been martyrs. Certainly we remember the ancient Roman persecutions. Whenever the gospel is brought into a new land it provokes opposition and produces martyrs: Korea, Japan, Viet Nam, Uganda. When a “new order” is being imposed persecution results: the martyrs of England and Ireland, those killed during the French revolution, by the Nazis or the Communists. In our time we’ve seen martyrs for justice like Martin Luther King, Jr., or Oscar Romero and Ida Ford and her companions in El Salvador. Tragically, in Syria and Iraq and other places ancient Christian communities are being destroyed. We should not be surprised, therefore, when we find the Bible is full of stories of life and death. Remember how often the birth of a child is necessary but problematic in the history of salvation: Isaac, Jacob, John the Baptist, Jesus. St. Paul says, “Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” Jesus says, “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Our faith is not a hobby, a sometime thing, a casual pastime. Being a Christian has everything to do with what it means to be alive.