On the evening of Wednesday, May 24th, a second conference regarding the Beatification took place in the Chapel of Picpus (Paris), where the bodies of Blessed Ladislaus, Polycarp, Marcellin and Frézal are to be laid to rest. The event had been postponed at the end of March because of the train strikes.? The good thing is that the weather in May permitted a sharing of drinks and snacks in the park before the conference!
Coming from the Congregation and from Réseau Picpus (a group of young professionals from Paris), about forty people gathered to listen to Anne Bernet present martyrdom as a component of Christian life throughout the ages.?This writer, a specialist in biographies, highlighted how the mystery of Christ's Passion rose throughout history in an unpredictable way, through people and contexts that are always changing, through all conditions and states, all the time highlighting both the life of Jesus in us and the truth of his words.
It is the relationship to Truth that gives us the ability to reject evil while forgiving the guilty and which stands behind all martyrdom; all the more as martyrdom is a testimony, beyond words, based on intimacy and trust in God, on faith in the "True Life", in the ability to live this quietly and not for human glory, and in the desire to save one's neighbor. This brings us back to the words of our Founder: "They will fail in their most essential vow when..." and to the four ages of Christ's life that our Blesseds were keen to retrace.
The question of martyrdom also obliges us to look at how the Peace of Christ is related to Truth, which cannot be satisfied with consensus, as the worldly peace would have it. The event of martyrdom can certainly give rise to quarrels between Christian confessions, political parties, other religions, but martyrdom itself defuses any idea of vengeful justice. Every Christian can participate in this mystery by weighing to the end in his or her heart and actions the words of the Our Father "...Thy Kingdom come...as we also forgive."
05/26/2023