VATICAN - Martyrdom is a joyful testimony to the Savior

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – The recent Nairobi killing of Italian missionary Father Giuseppe Bertaina, a man who dedicated his life to the despised of this earth, in a nation torn apart by wars and poverty, leads us to the thought of Christian martyrdom. “It is exclusively an act of love for God and for man, including persecutors” (Angelus, 26/12/2007). This definition given by Benedict XVI helps us to understand the meaning behind the Christian martyrs of the 20th century and that continue to die in so many parts of the world. Martyrdom is a joyful witness to the Savior. There is no revenge or hate involved. Nor does the Christian who survives to see such things, bear any condemnation or despise for those who have killed the martyr, because the martyr “accepts it in his heart, and he transforms it into an action of love.”
In these days of the controversies over the Holocaust, what greater sign do we have for entering into dialogue and clarification between Catholics and Jews, than that of the memory of the Catholic martyrs who died as a result of the Nazi criminal madness? Two examples can help us to understand not only the meaning of an abomination committed by a culture that substituted God with a false pagan icon, but also the meaning of victory and triumph over evil, as lived out in the martyr and transmitted to us as a gift of the faith. The first is Father Maximilian Kolbe, taken to Auschwitz in May 1941. In him, martyrdom is lived in a more triumphant manner, as the gift of love for another. His voluntary substitution for another destined to die in that camp would cost him his life, but would also give him the martyr's crown. In the colorless and brutal world of that concentration camp, Fr. Kolbe brought color and affection towards others, as well as the meekness of a lamb that offers himself to his assassin. After the tortures of hunger and thirst, enclosed in a bunker, he died on September 14, 1941, from an injection of carbolic acid. His death, although similar to the deaths of millions of innocents, shows us even today the extraordinary example of that love that the Christian, even in the midst of destitution in soul and body, is capable of offering his neighbor.
Another example is that of the extraordinary saint of this tragic modern age, Sr. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, previously known as Edith Stein, deported to Auschwitz where she died in the gas chambers on August 9, 1942. This incredible woman, gifted with great wisdom and spiritual insight is an extraordinary example of how martyrdom can be transformed into an act of love, in suffering offered to Christ, by all those persecuted on this earth. She used to often say: “I would have never imagined that men could be like this...and that my Jewish brothers and sisters would have to suffer so much...Now I pray for them. Will God hear my prayer? He will most certainly hear my lamentation.” At the point of losing hope, Saint Edith Stein found her arms of love and life in Christ and prayer. The Holy Father himself commented on these saints this part August, saying: “Those who pray never lose hope, even when they find themselves in a difficult and even humanly hopeless plight” (General Audience, 13/8/2008). And he added: “the following words are attributed to St Maximilian Kolbe, who is said to have spoken them when the Nazi persecution was raging: 'Hatred is not a creative force: only love is creative'.” With this certainty, therefore, men should learn to live in harmony, to break the chains of violence, war, and destruction that neither progress nor diplomacy can stop, but that can only be overcome through love for our neighbor. (FC) (Agenzia Fides 18/2/2009)