You may have noticed that I often will emphasise and promote the martyrs of the Church. This is not due to some sadomasochistic tendency, but rather because I have found them so inspirational in my own life and that as I have discussed in other posts, the early Church herself highly venerated martyrs.
The Blessed Martyrs of Drina are not very well known outside of Europe or even the Catholic Church in the Balkans. They were among the countless known and unknown martyrs during Workd War 2 that devastated Europe particularly. Among the the martyrs from this period acknowledged and venerated by the Church we find St Maximilian Kolbe, St Edith Stein, St Titus Brandsma, Bl Franz Jägerstätter, Bl Cardinal Stepinac & Bl Miroslav Bulešić.
The 5 Blessed Martyrs of Drina are interesting in that 4 of them were martyred for protecting their vow of chastity, while 1 of them was killed separately but more likely due to being older or seen as a burden. All 5 of them were sisters belonging to the Congregation of Daughters of Divine Charity. As religious sisters they were trying to serve the people that God had called them to serve, living among them, teaching them and loving them.
As with most of the martyrs of the Church you will notice that they were killed because of their commitment to Jesus and living their faith. Our faith is always countercultural, often seen as strange or backwards, but at other times in history seen as a threat to the ruling agenda of the time. Any one of us could be faced with martyrdom at any moment. The political regime in our country could change, someone could take offence at us attending Church or even by wearing a cross on our clothing. The witness of our faith always comes with the possibility of martyrdom. This is why it takes courage to be a Christian, we know that Jesus gives us a peace the world cannot give (John 14:27) and strengthens us by the Holy Spirit to be His witnesses to the world (Acts 1:8).
In popular culture we Catholics are seen as weak, strange, hypocritical, unhappy, repressed, out of touch etc… and in the eyes of the world this may all be true. But we also have a resilience, a hidden strength that no one else has. Secure in the love of God (Romans 8:31-39) we have an anchor (Hebrews 6:29) that no matter how cursed or reviled we are we will still choose to bless (Luke 6:27-36), when we are persecuted we will learn to rejoice (Matthew 5:10-12) knowing that we are being blessed even in the midst of all the suffering and attacks. This is why the martyrs and the saints have been able to face death without fear (Revelation 12:11) because we follow the Lamb himself who was not afraid to die but was Life itself (John 11:25-26).
Most of us may never be called to die for Christ or be faced with the choice between death or renouncing our faith. However each of us in our day to day live as a Christian is called to die to our sinful self and live a new life (Ephesians 4:22-32). The daily struggle of learning patience, kindness, choosing not to be angry or resentful, learning to forgive over and over again (Matthew 18: 21-22), all while united to Jesus and trying to allow his light to shine forth in our life that glorifies God (Matthew 5:16). This is the martyrdom, the witness each and everyone of us is called to. The martyred saints help us in this daily struggle, inspiring us to continually say “Yes” to God and ”No” to the world (1 John 2:15-17) all while still being in the world (John 17:14-16).
Even during the joy of the Christmas season, the day after we celebrate the Birth of Jesus, we then have a feast day for a martyr - St Stephen (Acts 7). Then 3 days after Christmas the Church gives us the feast of the Holy Innocents (Matthew 2:16-18). Always reminding us sombrely that our joy is not to be found here and that the commitment to Jesus always requires death to self and to the world (John 12:25) in order to obtain that eternal happiness with Jesus.
All you Holy Martyrs of God - pray for us.
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