Questo articolo è disponibile anche in:
Italian
English
Spanish
Portuguese
Good morning Father Angelo,
I am Andrea, a young catholic with a few questions for you. I don’t know if there’s an answer to them, but I’ll try anyway.
1) Is it too daring to pray for martyrdom? I know that Saint Peter from Verona did so and was satisfied; I often pray for this grace as well, even though I don’t know if it’s wise .
The second question may seem very strange; nonetheless, it’s very important to me.
1) Is there a possibility that on Judgement Day Jesus will ordain to priesthood all those that wanted to become priests but died prematurely, like seminarians, or those that had the desire in their heart but weren’t able to fulfill it for some reasons? Is there any chance that they’ll be ordained during Judgment Day?
Maybe it’s hard to find an answer. I would like to know if it’s wrong to hope so.
I wish you a good and holy Sunday, knowing that our peace is in the will of the Lord.
The answer from the priest
Dear Andrea,
1. Asking the Lord for the grace of martyrdom can evolve into a certain spiritual presumption; even more if you’re not capable to withstand the so-called daily martyrdom through patience, humility, charity and purity.
2. Yes, it is true that Saint Peter the Martyr (a Dominican from Verona who was dressed in the robes of our Order by Saint Dominic himself) asked the grace of living and dying for the Lord from the moment when he celebrated his first Mass. However, we also know that before he received the palm of martyrdom he grew heroically in meekness and humility: he accepted serious slander and was even confined in the Marche region as a punishment. There was a daily martyrdom in him, both in small and great things.
3. In the best of all Christians, there has always been a desire to ask God the grace of martyrdom. In a booklet of prayers for Dominican novices there is a prayer, written by an unknown author in 1180: “I beg you, Lord: let the fiery and sweet power of your love absorb my mind and my heart and draw it back from all the things that are in the world; so that I may die for the sake of your love, you who wanted to die for the sake of my love.” In latin: “Absorbeat, quaeso, Domine, mentem meam et cor meum ignita et melliflua vis amoris Tui ab omnibus quae in mundo sunt; ut amore amoris Tui moriar, Qui pro amore amoris mei dignatus es mori. Amen”.
3. I’ve known some people who prayed with these words often, maybe daily. They didn’t die a martyrdom of blood, but I can attest that they were holy, all for God, and they came before Him holding the palm of the martyrdom of desire, thanks to their humble and loving acceptance of life’s trials.
4. In conclusion, what you ask is beautiful and pleases the Lord; however, to avoid falling into presumption you must also accept daily martyrdom through the loving and humble endurance of all trials, for the love of God.
5. I will respond to your second question by using the words of Saint Thomas Aquinas. Regarding the beatitude of Paradise, he wrote as follows: “Everything that can cause happiness will be present and to the highest degree. If one searches for pleasures, there he will find the fullest and utmost pleasure, because it is the supreme good, i.e. the enjoyment of God: “at thy right hand are delights even to the end” (Psalms 15, 11). If one looks for honors, there will be every honor. Men, if laics, mostly desire to become kings; clerics desire to become bishops. In fact, it can be read: “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth” (Revelation 5,10)”
(Summa Theologiae I-II, 4, 5).
6. Therefore not only the seminarians who died before ordination, but every man and every woman, the children and the elderly, won’t become just priests, but even bishops; that is in the sense that they will participate fully of the priesthood of Christ and will be mediators of grace and perfect sacrifice pleasing to God.
I bless you and I will remember you in my prayers in the hope that, if God wills it and you respond to His call, you will become a priest even in this world.
Father Angelo