Hope
“Christians loathe the idea that suicidal terrorists may be called ‘martyrs’”: they are not martyrs, there’s nothing in their end that comes close to the attitude of God’s children”. This is the powerful warning made today by Pope Francis during the general audience, about martyrdom. “Martyrs – he explained – do not live for themselves, they do not fight to assert their ideas, and they accept they have to die out of loyalty to the Gospel only. Martyrdom is not even the supreme ideal of Christian life, because there is charity above it, there is love for God and for one’s neighbours”. “Sometimes – the Holy Father then went on –, as we read the stories of so many martyrs of yesterday and today who are more like the original martyrs, we are amazed at the strength with which they faced their ordeals. Such strength is evidence of the great hope that spurred them: the certain hope that nothing and nobody could separate them from God’s love, given us in Jesus Christ”. And he concluded: “May God always give us the strength to be His witnesses. May He let us feel Christian hope, especially in the hidden martyrdom of doing our duties well and with love, every single day”.
