The Grace of Martyrdom
Gospel Reflection for November 16, 2025 - Luke 21:5-19
And some saying of the temple, that it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said:
These things which you see, the days will come in which there shall not be left a stone upon a stone that shall not be thrown down. And they asked him, saying: Master, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when they shall begin to come to pass? Who said: Take heed you be not seduced; for many will come in my name, saying, I am he; and the time is at hand: go ye not therefore after them. And when you shall hear of wars and seditions, be not terrified: these things must first come to pass; but the end is not yet presently. Then he said to them: Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
And there shall be great earthquakes in divers places, and pestilences, and famines, and terrors from heaven; and there shall be great signs. But before all these things, they will lay their hands upon you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and into prisons, dragging you before kings and governors, for my name’s sake. And it shall happen unto you for a testimony. Lay it up therefore into your hearts, not to meditate before how you shall answer: For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to resist and gainsay.
And you shall be betrayed by your parents and brethren, and kinsmen and friends; and some of you they will put to death. And you shall be hated by all men for my name’s sake. But a hair of your head shall not perish. In your patience you shall possess your souls. (Luke 21:5-19 DRA)
In today’s Gospel reading, Our Lord’s beautiful and arresting words can become even more poignant with a slight change in translation. In verse 13, we read: “And it shall happen unto you for a testimony”, or “to your giving testimony” in the lectionary version. This last word is an accurate rendering of the Vulgate’s “testimonium,” accusative of testimony or witness (testis + monium). Nevertheless, this word in the Greek has an even deeper significance. The original word in our texts of the New Testament is μαρτύριον – martyrdom. So, in today’s prophecy which can be applied both to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD (as verse 20 demonstrates) and to all of us in the End Times, Christ is calling us to the greatest sacrifice of any Christian, the highest possible participation in the Cross: the grace of martyrdom.
You shall be betrayed even by loved ones; some of you shall be put to death; you shall be hated for His name’s sake. Is this the message we see or hear today from the lives of Christians or from the teaching of the Church? No – most often we see and hear a message which removes Christ from the Cross, separating sacrifice from Christian discipleship and making it seem as if this world is already the footstool of Christ rather than the playground of its usuper-prince, Satan. If you pray enough, all your ills will be cured; if you live right, you’ll have health, wealth and happiness; if you’re good to others, they’ll be good to you.
This is the Prosperity Gospel which has become ubiquitous among Christians, particularly Protestants and Novus Ordo Catholics. If you mourn, you’re not a real Christian; if you’re angry at evils in the world, you’re a fanatic; if you struggle with temptations and infirmities, you must have some hidden sin. This is what the ‘friends’ of Job told him, but is it what Christ tells us in the reading today?
You can discern the character of any religion by examining its founder. Muhammed was a polygamous, tyrannical pedophile, and this has become the ideal of true Muslims ever since. Buddha abandoned his family to sit under a tree and tell people that their sufferings are their own fault and that the answer is to not care about anything, and this has been the highest ideal of Buddhism ever since.
But the model of Christianity is Christ, one who never sinned, who confronted Satan and overcame him, who cast our demons and healed the spiritual and physical wounds of sin, who treated all people with kindness even those who were murdering Him, and who taught us that God loves us and wants nothing more than for us to cast off the evils that destroy us and be united with Him in eternal beatitude. And this has been modeled by the saints and ordinary decent Christians for two millennia, the same message that the saints of the Old Testament followed in light of God’s Law but now perfected in Christ.
In today’s world, where God has been erased from public life on all levels – government, law, business, education, etc. – where family is corrupted by divorce, cohabitation, contraception, adultery and pornography or bastardized by ‘gay marriage’, where God’s design for human nature is perverted by transgenderism and transhumanism and where debatable political issues like immigration, capital punishment and climate change are prioritized over the genocide of unborn children, the brutal persecution of Christians throughout the world by Muslims and communists and corruption on all levels of the Church, where Catholics are fleeing to Orthodoxy or abandoning the Faith entirely because of its ambiguity, scandals and effeminate witness – in this world, martyrdom, whether unto death or just persecution, is available on all sides, and yet fewer Christians today than ever, especially in the affluent West, are willing to endure what Our Lord foretold, just as His apostles abandoned Him in the Garden of Gethsemane. For these who abandon Him, especially those like Judas who never return, the fire of damnation announced by Malachi in the first reading awaits them – and us likewise if we follow their example.
So, as Our Lord asked in a previous reading, when He returns in the End Times which he prophesies today, will He find faith on Earth? Let us pray that, when faced with opportunities to speak the truth of the Gospel and stand up against this present darkness, we will do so with the same indomitable courage and love which the martyr-saints have exemplified throughout history. I also pray for the repose of the souls of those Christian martyrs who were not Catholic, including Charlie Kirk and many Orthodox in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, that God will count their martyrdoms as penance for their imperfect faith. These witnesses, and those like Kristin Hawkins and other brave souls today who stand up against the satanic Left, enduring death threats, verbal and physical abuse, are true heroes and inspirations for us all.
I ask for the intercession of St. Stephen, St. Ignatius of Antioch, St. Barbara, St. Lucy, St. Thomas Becket, St. Margaret Clitherow, St. Maximilian Kolbe and all the blessed martyrs that we may become martyrs with them!
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Kaleb, at first I became sad, but then realized that prayer and witness is what we are called to do. Thank you.