Which religion is the most persecuted around the world? According to the International Society for Human Rights, up to 80% of acts of persecution are directed at people of the Christian faith, even though just a third of the world’s population is Christian. The Holy See reports that over 100,000 Christians are violently killed annually because of some relation to their faith.
The World Evangelical Alliance estimates that over 200 million Christians are denied fundamental human rights, solely because of their faith. Check out Wikipedia’s entry on “Persecution of Christians.” [1] [1]It’s amazingly detailed, country-by-country.
A recent situation drew outrage from all over the world – the beheading of 21 Coptic Christian Egyptians in Libya by Islamic State in February. Supposedly they cried out, “Jesus help me.” Pope Francis responded: “The blood of our Christian brothers and sisters is a witness that cries out to be heard. It makes no difference whether they be Catholics, Orthodox, Copts or Protestants. They are Christians! Their blood is one and the same. Their blood confesses Christ.”
Days later, the Coptic Orthodox Church announced that the victims of the vicious executions will be commemorated in its Church calendar. Pope Tawadros II announced that the names of the martyrs will be inserted into the Coptic Synaxarium, the Oriental Church’s equivalent to the Roman Martyrology. This procedure is also equivalent to canonization in the Latin Church.
Martyrdom! Is it still with us, many centuries after Saint Stephen, regardless of how we’ve grown? We hear these words in the Gospel for the fifth Sunday of Lent: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” It was Tertullian, an early Christian author, who stated that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. Very few of us will experience physical martyrdom because of our faith.
But anyone who calls him or herself Christian is called to die to self. This is a concept found throughout the New Testament. It’s the act of taking up our cross and following Christ. Not one of us knows the way in which we will experience that cross. But, alert and open eyes will help us recognize it when it’s offered. It may be a health situation or the experience of being grossly misunderstood. It could be in the way we are being invited to stand with a marriage partner or a child.
Paul explains to the Galatians the process of dying to self as one in which he has been crucified with Christ and now Paul no longer lives, but Christ lives in him. The new Paul is the dwelling place of Christ. Dying to self doesn’t mean that we become inactive and dry up. It is leaving behind our sinful ways and lifestyles. It is accepting the cross that is ours. It’s moving away from doing everything for ourselves and shifting to doing things for God.
I find helpful a concept that is summed up by a Latin phrase: Agere contra … acting against. Here’s Ignatius of Loyola. He says about “those who wish to give greater proof of their love, and to distinguish themselves in whatever concerns the service of the eternal King and the Lord of all”, they will “not only offer themselves entirely for the work, but will act against their sensuality and carnal and worldly love” and make an offering of themselves. Act against their natural instincts!
This is in his exercise on the Kingdom of Christ. We’ve just prayed with our sinfulness and God’s love for us. We realize that although we are sinners, we are still called to serve the Lord. That acting against is as simple as being disciplined enough to decline that second piece of chocolate cake or as serious as the act of Christian martyrs in giving up their lives. As we continue our Lenten journey, let us pray for the grace to have the courage and perseverance we need to carry our cross.