The Crypt, pt 4

If we shall picture the early Christians as they sang hymns and rejoiced while walking into the Coliseum to be mauled by the wild beasts, we will realize at such a recollection that our Faith transcends death itself --- even the most horrible of deaths; the most painful of departures. Nero burned hundreds of Christians upon crosses in order to provide night-light for his infamous partying. At this very writing, Christians are being crucified, including little children, in the Muslim Sudan. These are the brothers and sisters of Christ who literally share in His death with their own martyrdoms for the love of Him.

As we recall our blessed dead let us especially thank God for those martyrs who over the ages loved the Church and gave their lives in defense of the Holy Faith. Two examples spring to mind: two archbishops of Canterbury. Thomas A Becket was murdered at the Altar of Canterbury by those who were disturbed by his defense of the Church against the claims of the King of England. Thomas Cranmer, a scholarly man who translated most of our Book of Common Prayer from the ancient Latin texts of the Mass, gained the grace, while the flames began to lick at him, to cast his right hand into the fire. He had earlier signed a recantation of the Protestant form of Christianity in England but now he cries to heaven: "Let this offending hand be the first to burn!"

Revelation tells of the martyrs throughout the ages in Paradise awaiting Christ's return: they shall, at last, see justice reign over wickedness and heresy. Oh most blessed of days, the day of His coming!

Revelation 6:
9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.
12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondsman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

Continue to The Net that Catcheth All Sorts of Fish

Back to The Empty Tomb

Back to Table of Contents