Today Some of Us Will Be Martyred

In the grand scope of things consider how grievous it is that Christians in all the branches of the Body of Christ do not honour each other; but instead wound the Body of Christ with their words. 

St. Paul understood his own sufferings as a share in the larger sufferings of the Body of Christ across the world, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church” [Colossians 1:24]. We are one Body with those who will be martyred this week; “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread” [1 Corinthians 10:17]. 

Today in various places of our world radical Islam will, “murder the widow and the stranger and put orphans to death” [Ps. 94:6]. This day radical Islam will murder some of us. We pray for the Martyrs and for ourselves. Even in these circumstances we confess that, “No chaos, disaster, or malice can threaten God’s reign” [Antiphon from The Monastery of St. Scholastica, Fort Smith, AR]. We all will eventually pass through the gate of death, but those who have made their surrender to Christ will be gathered up with Him and carried to our Father to be with Him for ever.