The Courage to be Martyrs

(St. Oliver Plunkett, giving the Sacrament of Confirmation to thousands. This Irish Archbishop of Armagh was later imprisoned, sent to England, and martyred for the Faith in the 17th century. This photo was taken in St. Peter's Church in Drogheda, where his head is venerated.)

We live in scary times, but there have been many scary times in the history of the Church before this...beginning with the fears that the Apostles experienced when their Mighty and Miracle-Working Leader, who had just begun to preach the Church, was imprisoned, brutally tortured and executed on a Cross. 

Down through the centuries, the Church has withstood persecutions in almost every country around the world...and the Banner of Christ still waves proudly. We must not fear; we must have faith that God will see us through these perilous times too.

I offer these words from Cardinal John Henry Newman, an English convert. It amazes me how the quotes from the past apply so much to the present...there is no "time" with God...only eternity...

"If it be God's blessed will, not Saints alone, not Preachers only, shall be ours -- but Martyrs, too, shall reconsecrate the soil to God. We know not what is before us, ere we win our own... One thing alone I know -- that according to our need, so will be our strength. One thing I am sure of, that the more the enemy rages against us, so much the more will the Saints in Heaven plead for us."