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<\/a>But I do believe its important to realize the previous meaning of words, in somewhat of the same way you should realize the previous life of your wife, or the previous use of a gun you found lying on the ground. It can be important to your life. If we are willing to die for our faith, by the previous use of the word, we are martyrs. Are we willing? I guess we can\u2019t really gauge the answer to that question until we are put to that ultimate test.<\/p>\nBut if there is any truth in the world, it\u2019s this \u2013 you die as you live. \u00a0Heartfelt conversions at the brink of death are much rarer than atheists would like to think. When my heathen friends cavalierly say \u201cI\u2019ll live my life how I want and convert on my deathbed,\u201d I\u2019m always prompted to ask, \u201cwho the hell promised you a deathbed? You make presumptions like that you\u2019re\u00a0practically\u00a0begging to be shot in your sleep.\u201d No, if you live cursing God, you\u2019ll die cursing him, and if you live praising his name you\u2019ll die doing the same. So when asking ourselves whether we would have the moral constitution, the dogmatic strength to die for our beliefs, when asking whether we are martyrs, we can only ask whether we can live like one.<\/p>\n
Pope John Paul the Second said that the martyrdom of the modern Christian is humiliation. These words strike me to the heart, especially when coupled with the quote immortalized in The Catcher In The Rye, that\u00a0\u201cThe mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.\u201d<\/span> <\/span>We live in a world where the easiest thing we could do is run our mouths off about being willing to die for or faith. We could shout it from a mountain, we could advertise our willingness to be decapitated on national television. But the truth we have to admit is that no one is going to kill us. Not here. What takes strength is living, not dying. Our martyrdom today is not the sword, but the equally sharp and painful comments about our own hypocrisy. The call to die will not be a curt command to an executioner, but the snide comment that our priests are child molesters. We do not face a glorious, personal cross at the end of our lives, but the daily crucifixion of humiliation. That\u2019s what takes work. We have to develop the humility to face this martyrdom, a martyrdom that has no worldly glory, only the hope of the words \u201cwell done, good and faithful servant.\u201d Because if we can live like martyrs, we will die as we live. <\/span><\/p>\nChesterton has a marvelous view of this whole martyrdom business.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf a man is seen to be roaring with laughter all the time that he is skinned alive, it would not be unreasonable to deduce that somewhere in the recesses of his mind he had thought of a rather good joke. Similarly, if men smiled and sang (as they did) while they were being boiled or torn in pieces, the spectators felt the presence of something more than mere mental honesty: they felt the presence of some new and unintelligible kind of pleasure, which, presumably, came from somewhere. It might be a strength of madness, or a lying spirit from Hell; but it was something quite positive and extraordinary; as positive as brandy and as extraordinary as conjuring. The Pagan said to himself: \u201cIf Christianity makes a man happy while his legs are being eaten by a lion, might it not make me happy while my legs are still attached to me and walking down the street?\u201d\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
If you\u2019re not familiar with Chesterton, I\u2019d advise you to become so. Actually don\u2019t, because you\u2019ll never visit my blog, or anyone else\u2019s, your literary fulfillment will be so great. He is the bard of the 20th century and the prophet for the 21st.<\/p>\n
My friends, I\u2019m beginning to pray for you every day, I hope you\u2019ll do the same for me. If you want me to post on anything, or if you\u2019d like to post anything, just let me know!<\/p>\n