Br. James Koester

Vincent of Saragossa

Some of us will remember that when Tom was the Superior, he would often pray at the midday Office that the gift of martyrdom be given to the community. These prayers became so frequent that some of us were more than willing to assist him in making these prayers come true, by offering him as the first martyr. The reality, however, is that the gift of martyrdom has been given to the Society, and Tom’s prayers have been answered, but not in ways that are perhaps obvious at first.

For many, perhaps most, perhaps you, and certainly these days for the press, martyrdom is about violence, and ultimately about death. Martyrs are people who die violently for a cause. However, in a larger sense, martyrdom is not simply about dying violently. It is about surrendering our lives, by living with integrity and without fear. We say in our Rule that:

“The grace to surrender our lives to God through our vows has been given to us in Baptism whereby we die with Christ and are raised with him. It is the same grace that gives strength to martyrs to submit gladly to death as witnesses of the resurrection. From the beginning monks and nuns have been encouraged to understand their own commitment in the light of the freedom and trust that enables martyrs to give up their lives to the glory of God. The witness of the martyrs should never be far from our minds as we go forward in the vowed life day by day.”[1]

In many ways, all of us who have been baptised into the death and resurrection of Jesus, as well as those of us who live under monastic vows, have become martyrs, or rather witnesses, to the power of the resurrection, for the word martyr simply means witness. Some of us are witnesses to Christ through our “strength and courage to love and serve [him] with gladness and singleness of heart.”[2] Others are witnesses to the power of life over death given to us in the resurrection of Jesus by offering our very life, demonstrating that we do not fear death in the face of persecution. In either case our witness to the power of God to give life to all who love Jesus is our martyrdom, and it comes through living boldly, or dying bravely, or both.

This week the church remembers some of her earliest martyrs: the Apostle Peter,[3] Fabian,[4] Agnes and Cecelia,[5] and today, Vincent.[6] Each of them were willing to live boldly, and die bravely, as witnesses of the resurrection.

May God grant to us all the grace to do the same, and may God continue to grant our Society the gift of martyrdom, as we witness to the mystery of Christ’s resurrection in our lives, by living boldly, and perhaps dying bravely.

[1] The Rule of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist, “Life Profession,” 79.

[2] The Book of Common Prayer, 365.

[3] Confession of St. Peter the Apostle, 18 January

[4] Fabian, Bishop and Martyr, 250, 20 January

[5] Agnes and Cecelia of Rome, Martyrs, 304 and c. 230, 21 January (in some places the feast of St. Cecelia is kept on 22 November)

[6] Vincent of Saragossa, Deacon and Martyr, 304, 22 January