Pope : Martyrs Call All to High Standard of Christian Life

(11 Aug 10 – RV) Martyrdom is a form of total love for God, for the Church and for the World. Marytrs call everyone to a high standard of Christian life, which has the power to transform others and the world. Pope Benedict XVI dedicated his second general audience since the summer break to martyrdom this Wednesday, inspired by the liturgical feasts of figures such as St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Edith Stein, Patron of Europe, and St. Maximilian Kolbe.

Below a Vatican Radio translation of the Holy Fathers catechesis:

“Today, in the liturgy we remember Saint Clare of Assisi, founder of the Poor Clares, a luminous figure of whom I will speak in a forthcoming Catechesis. But this week - as I mentioned in the Angelus last Sunday - we also remember some Saints and Martyrs, from the early centuries of the Church, like St. Lawrence, Deacon, St. Pontian, Pope, and St. Hippolytus, priest, and from a time closer to us, such as St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Edith Stein, Patron of Europe, and St. Maximilian Kolbe. So I would like to touch briefly on martyrdom, as a form of total love of God.

Where is martyrdom founded? The answer is simple: the death of Jesus, in his supreme sacrifice of love, consumed on the Cross so that we might have life (cf. Jn 10:10). Christ is the suffering servant of whom the prophet Isaiah speaks (cf. Is 52.13 to 15), who gifted himself for the salvation of many (cf. Mt 20:28). He urges his disciples, each of us to take up his cross daily and follow his path of total love of God the Father and mankind: " whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me – he tells us - is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it" (Mt 10.38-39). It is the logic of the grain of wheat that dies to take seed and bring life (cf. Jn 12:24). Jesus himself is the grain of wheat come from God, the divine grain of wheat, which is dropped on the ground, which allow itself to be broken, broken in death and, through this, it opens and can thus bear fruit in the vastness of the world "(Benedict XVI Visit to the Lutheran Church of Rome [March 14, 2010]). The martyr follows the Lord to the very end, by accepting freely to die for the salvation of the world, a supreme test of faith and love (cf. Lumen Gentium, 42).

Again, where is the strength to face martyrdom born? From a deep and intimate union with Christ, because martyrdom and the vocation to martyrdom are not the result of human effort, but the response to God’s initiative and call, they are a gift of His grace, which enables them to offer their lives for the love of Christ and the Church, and thus the world. If we read the lives of martyrs, we are amazed by their serenity and courage in suffering and death: God's power is fully manifest in the weakness, the poverty of those who entrust themselves to Him and place their hope in Him alone ( cf 2 Cor 12:9). But it is important to note that the grace of God does not suppress or stifle the freedom of those facing martyrdom, but rather enriches and enhances it: the martyr is a supremely free person, free from the power of the world; a free person who in one final act gifts his entire life to God, and in a supreme act of faith, hope and charity, abandons himself in the hands of his Creator and Redeemer, sacrifices his life to totally become part of Christ's sacrifice on the Cross. In a word, martyrdom is a great act of love in response to God's immense love.

Dear brothers and sisters, as I said last Wednesday, perhaps we are not called to martyrdom, but none of us are excluded from the divine call to holiness, to live the high standard of Christian life and that means taking the cross upon ourselves every day. Everyone, especially in our time when individualism and selfishness seem to prevail, must make our first and fundamental commitment that of growing every day in a greater love for God and for mankind, to transform our lives and in doing so transform our world. Through the intercession of the saints and martyrs we ask God to ignite our hearts to be capable of loving as He loved each of us”.