But when you are arrested, do not worry about what you are to say, or how you are to say it; when the hour
comes, you will be given what you are to say. For it will not be you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father,
speaking through you.

Brother will hand over his brother to death, and a father his child; children will turn against their parents and
have them put to death. Everyone will hate you because of me, but whoever stands firm to the end will be saved.

When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next. I tell you the truth, you will not have passed through all the
towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

Reflection:

I have often marveled at the grace with which every Christian martyr, without exception, has approached their death;
the powerful words they speak which stun even their opponents. One of my most favored groups of young martyrs, my
elder brothers in faith, are the 51 Claretian martyrs of the “martyr seminary” in Vic (Spain), nearly all of them being late
teens or young adults. They had the choice to opt out of martyrdom; but they didn’t. They had the choice to hate, but they
wouldn’t. And the kind of words they spoke in their last moments! They wrote to the Congregation: “We all die happy with
no regrets or misgivings. We all die praying to God that our blood not be shed in vengeance.” It is humanly impossible to
speak so. That gives out the truth: at such moments, even for the weakest of us, the words will be given. It will not be we
who speak, but the Spirit of Christ. There is no doubting it.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2022