"No circumstance in the world can ever prevent us from believing in God, from placing all our trust in him, from loving him with our whole heart, or from loving our neighbor. Faith, hope, and charity are absolutely free, because if they are rooted in us deeply enough, they are able to draw strength from whatever opposes them! If someone sought to prevent us from believing  by persecuting us, we always would retain the option of forgiving our enemies and transforming the situation of oppression into one of greater love. If someone tried to silence our faith by killing us, our deaths would be the best possible proclamation of our faith! Love, and only love, can overcome evil by good and draw good out of evil.." (Fr. Jacques Philippe)

Now, we can better understand how the many martyrs in the past and in the present could remain resolute in the face of death. Their faith, hope and love in and of Jesus was strongly rooted, like a firm foundation that nothing can uproot. When Jesus is truly the Lord of our lives, no other lord can substitute or satisfy us. Like St. Paul, we want nothing more than to know Jesus both in his suffering and in his resurrection. Today, make a conscious decision to give your life to Jesus more completely.