Dear brethren, the Lord has marked out for us the fullness of
love that we ought to have for each other. He tells us: No one has greater
love than the man who lays down his life for his friends (Jn. 15:13). In these
words, the Lord tells us what the perfect love we should have for one another
involves. John, the evangelist who recorded them, draws the conclusion in one
of his letters: As Christ laid down his life for us, so we too ought to
lay down our lives for our brothers. We should indeed love one another
as he loved us, he who laid down his life for us.
This is surely what we read in the Proverbs of
Solomon: If you sit down to eat at the table of a ruler, observe
carefully what is set before you; then stretch out your hand, knowing that you
must provide the same kind of meal yourself.
What is this ruler’s table if not the one at which we
receive the body and blood of him who laid down his life for us? What does it
mean to sit at this table if not to approach it with humility? What does it
mean to observe carefully what is set before you if not to meditate devoutly on
so great a gift? What does it mean to stretch out one’s hand, knowing that one
must provide the same kind of meal oneself, if not what I have just said: as
Christ laid down his life for us, so we in our turn ought to lay down our lives
for our brothers? This is what the apostle Paul said: Christ suffered
for us, leaving us an example, that we might follow in his footsteps (1 Pt. 2:21).
THE MARTYRS & THE EXAMPLE OF CHRIST’S DEATH
This is what is meant by providing “the same kind of
meal.” This is what the blessed martyrs did with such burning love. If we are
to give true meaning to our celebration of their memorials, to our approaching
the Lord’s table in the very banquet at which they were fed, we must, like
them, provide “the same kind of meal.”
At this table of the Lord we do not commemorate the
martyrs in the same way as we commemorate others who rest in peace. We do not
pray for the martyrs as we pray for those others, rather, they pray for us,
that we may follow in his footsteps. They practiced the perfect love of which
the Lord said there could be none greater. They provided “the same kind of
meal” as they had themselves received at the Lord’s table.
This must not be understood as saying that we can be
the Lord’s equals by bearing witness to him to the extent of shedding our
blood. He had the power of laying down his life; we by contrast cannot choose
the length of our lives, and we die even if it is against our will. He, by
dying, destroyed death in himself; we are freed from death only in his death.
His body did not see corruption; our body will see corruption and only then be
clothed through him in incorruption at the end of the world. He needed no help
from us in saving us; without him we can do nothing. He gave himself to us as
the vine to the branches; apart from him we cannot have life.
Finally, even if brothers die for brothers, yet no martyr by shedding his blood brings forgiveness for the sins of his brothers, as Christ brought forgiveness to us. In this he gave us, not an example to imitate but a reason for rejoicing. Inasmuch, then, as they shed their blood for their brothers, the martyrs provided “the same kind of meal” as they had received at the Lord’s table. Let us then love one another as Christ also loved us and gave himself up for us.
The Crossroads Initiative Website
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