Seeing the blood of martyrs as the seeds of the
Acts of the apostles 8:1B-8
There broke out a severe persecution of the Church in
Jerusalem, and all were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and
Samaria, except the Apostles. Devout men buried Stephen and made a loud lament
over him. Saul, meanwhile, was trying to destroy the Church; entering house
after house and dragging out men and women, he handed them over for
imprisonment.
Have you ever heard the phrase “the
blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church”? It was written by the early
Christian writer named Tertullian in 197 during the time of the Roman
persecutions of the early Christians, when Christians were being thrown into
the Colosseum and devoured by lions, while others were tortured and crucified.
Seeing all their blood spilt in sport, Tertullian saw a deeper spiritual truth,
namely, those drops of blood would fall to the ground like “seeds” and soon
sprout into the flowers and indeed the forest of the saints. Just think about
it: planting a seed takes a moment of time, but the mighty oak that grows from
it can stand tall for thousands of years. You see, Tertullian was giving hope
to all those early Christians: that their suffering and sorrow was not in vain,
but rather a source of grace and glory for the budding Church. Tertullian would
conclude that writing with this bold statement: “Crucify us – torture us –
condemn us – destroy us! Your injustice is the proof of our innocence…When we
are condemned by you, we are acquitted by God” (Apologeticum, chapter 50).
In the Acts
of the Apostles, we see when the very first seed of the Church was planted,
namely, the martyrdom of St. Stephen. Stephen’s claim to fame is that he’s the
first follower whose faith led him to shed his blood for Christ. How would you
like that on your resume: “first Christian martyr”? As Stephen was being stoned
to death, his blood fell to the ground in Jerusalem. But those drops of blood were also like seeds
planted in the heart of a man named Saul the Pharisee, who ruthlessly and
viciously tried to destroy the Church. Years later, on the road to Damascus,
those seeds that Stephen planted began to sprout in Saul’s heart, when he was
knocked off his high horse, and had a vision of Jesus. Slowly, the seeds of
Stephen’s blood would grow into the towering oak of the figure of St. Paul, one
of the greatest saints in the history of the Church. The blood of martyrs is
always the seeds of the Church.
My friends,
you and I are blessed to live in a land where we enjoy religious freedom; we’re
not persecuted for our faith. But that’s not true everywhere. On March 4 of
this year, two gunmen entered a Missionary of Charity nursing home in Yemen,
where Mother Teresa’s sisters were caring for the elderly, the poor and the
disabled. The gunmen killed 4 nuns and 16 other people. Each victim was
handcuffed and shot in the head. The four nuns names are: Sr. Anselm, Sr.
Judith, Sr. Marguerite, and Sr. Reginette. Those people who perpetrated that
persecution may believe they are destroying the Church – that’s what the Roman
emperors thought and that’s what Saul the Pharisee thought – but they are
sorely mistaken. They are only acting as God’s gardeners who are planting the
sacred seeds of the saints. The drops of blood that fell on the ground in Yemen
are also the seeds of faith that have fallen in the hearts of many people,
people who one day will sprout into the flower and the forests of the saints.
Seeing the persecuted Church throughout
the world, Pope Saint John Paul II predicted that there would be a “new
Springtime of Christianity.” But the pope-saint also knew well that spring only
comes after the winter. Or, as Shakespeare famously wrote: “Now is the winter
of our discontents made glorious summer by this sun of York” (Richard III, I,
i)
Praised be
Jesus Christ!
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