None can know until they are in the furnace is correct. We have to keep in mind that suffering in this life is a relatively quick period of time compared to what is promised us in the afterlife. It doesn't seem that way when we are in it but we know that our Lord suffered much much more than any of us would ever be asked to for his sake. I think and have prayed quite a bit for those that are currently suffering this in their own lives now all over the sanai peninsula and the ME, India and Pakistan, China who are forbidding worship and outward displays of devotion. It is happening now. From wheat shortages in Venezuela affecting the partaking in the Holy Eucharist to people being murdered in Egypt for professing Christ their savior and God be praised, refusing to recant him at threat of death. I can only pray that if any here should ever be in this position that the Holy Spirit might guide their hearts and give them the words to speak in that time.
Like everyone here, I pray I am up for the task if it presents itself. I am not afraid of death at all, but the death process is another story. I hope I am not tortured, but with the times we live in, I might be. I have put some thought into it and I always thought a guillotine is best but I don't think we are that civilized anymore. A bullet to the back of the head probably would not be bad, or firing squad if they have good aim. I hope and pray for some serious grace if the occasion arises. This thread did remind me of a dream I had at the very beginning of my conversion, so that was about 8 years ago now. Before I start, I rarely remember my dreams. I am one of the deepest sleepers out there. I set 3 alarms in different areas of my room to wake up each morning. So, it has only been a few times in my life that I woke up in the middle of the night due to a dream, but this was one of them. In the dream I was walking down the street of a town that I did not recognize. There was no one else on the street or any cars. Suddenly a car was coming right at me and I ran and managed to avoid getting hit and it skidded in front of me. My thought was "wow, that guy is crazy he nearly hit me!!" Then I see the car go into reverse and now it is backing up right at me and my thought changed to "that car is trying to hit me!!" I had nowhere to go this time and just jump straight up and the trunk clips my feet and I start to fly through the air. In the air I yell "Jesus" 3 times and then it is like I am grabbed in mid-air and embraced in a tremendous bear hug and that is when I woke up with goose-bumps throughout my whole body. It was so, so real as when I started to fly in the air in the dream I felt like I was being lifted in my bed. And then caught and embraced before I hit the ground. It was amazing. It was not wake up in a cold sweat, but amazing and it felt so real. So, that was my dream that I will never forget. I felt that this car was targeting me because of my faith. It seemed unusual 8 years ago to be run down by a car, but those recent terrorist attacks with cars as the weapon have made me think about this dream again. If it is true and it is how I die, I hope I am caught again in mid-air before the splat. Either way, I do pray to St. Joseph for a good death and ask mother Mary to be with me in the hour of my death.
Interesting this was brought up as I have thought about this from time to time but it seems to be quite frequent over the last month or so. The greatest challenge would be if my wife, children and other family were somehow being used against me. I have been praying that I be given the grace and strength to be a martyr if called.
None of us have the grace today to deal with what we'll have to face some day in the future. We just have to trust and be at peace knowing God will provide whatever graces are needed for whatever white or red martyrdom we might face. It's probably not best to contemplate these things too much today. The devil's playground is our regrets about the past or fears of a future that will likely never materialize as our imagination projects.
I don't think about this type of thing, as it is truly a way for satan to put fear into our mind and soul. Its enough for me to know God loves me and he would not give me anything that he does not give me the grace to do his will. I pray that God will not let me fail his will and that I never loose my faith. He knows I am a very competitive person and have been my whole life. I have chilled in my years, but it can awaken and I have to pray about this as well.
For me it would be easier to put me to death than to have my family go against me. satan knows my weaknesses and doesn't hesitate to use them against me. Unfortunately I fold like a cheap tent when we get in arguments about religion. I don't have the spiritual strength to take him on.
"In everything you do,, kiss and breathe the Divine Will. It will make you breathe Heaven, the balsamic air of peace, and will put all concerns, fears and doubts out of your heart. The Divine Will will be the true Sun for you, which will make the night of troubles disappear forming the smiling spring of the most beautiful flowers." Luisa Piccarreta
This thread came to mind tonight as I watched the Sky News report about Mosul. God help those people and what they endured at the hands of IS. One woman had the task of whipping other women who hadn't been dressed according to the rules. She claims that she didn't want to do it but she would have been whipped had she refused. She said that she whipped many women. The most scary part was a video that was heavily edited to remove the most shocking material. It was an IS video of young boys - children as young as 12 who had been trained to track and murder. Part of the video showed the children in an abandoned building as they stalked blindfolded prisoners whose hands had been bound. Although they didn't show the actual murders, they showed the cornered prisoners and the children taking aim to shoot them. If not imprisoned, those brainwashed children who have been turned into killing machines will be returned to families and communities trying to put their lives back together in a place that has been utterly devastated. They didn't raise their children for such evil, and what happened to them could happen anywhere in a world where hatred abounds. And this evil was perpetrated in the name of God. We don't pray nearly enough.
Reminds me of the Nazis getting Jews (Kapos) to control and whip their own people in the camps. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapo_(concentration_camp) Imagine what the likes of ISIS would do if they successfully invaded Europe!!
Thank you all for your support and prayers. My prayers also go out for all on MOG forum. . God bless! Shep.
Exactly. My blood would be shed all right but I would not stand there but fight. You put a knife to my kid's head and I am coming at you knowing full well they will kill us all but they would do that regardless in my opinion.
I was watching a PBS story about Queen Victorias time, and how the British army saw muslim conquerors, captured their enemy, castrated the men and put them to work as slaves no doubt. Then captured their women and used them for their harem places. All the captured were marched in chain gangs. That was not much more than a hundred years ago. I wonder when islam discovered the slogan 'religion of peace.' A taste of things to come. In charity we need to pray for conversions and avoid God's punishment.
I fully understand what you are saying Crewdog and don't disagree. I don't understand though if this falls into the category of sin of pride. As said in my earlier post I would rather die for my family. I don't think my family would b put in the position because the colleges they chose were we secular and their attitude is live and let live. They will bend. I on the other hand have a hard time giving up because I love my family. They would want me to bend. If it was just me, I'm all for martyrdom. Put my family in the mix, my feelings change.
What frightens me in scripture is when it is prophesied for the end times in Mark 13:12 that "Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death." That part of scripture and others in Mark's gospel seem to be coming up regularly for me for quite a while now. I often wonder could it happen in my own family if things were bad enough.
VDH is a historian and all around smart guy who has NOT forgotten George Santayana's admonition: “Those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it.”. I'm afraid that all too many friends at MOG somehow, STILL, believe that they will be able to watch all the unpleasantness unfold on the TV whilst all comfy in their easy chairs ......... to those friends I'll say ... Well ... Ya know! "Victor Davis Hanson: Obama Is America's Version Of Stanley Baldwin" http://www.investors.com/politics/c...obama-is-americas-version-of-stanley-baldwin/ I simply do NOT know why GOD has allowed all the Blood-n-Tears since Jesus' Passion but He has a Plan and if the past 2000 years are a "Sign Post" it appears that "The Plan" expects People of Faith to do their duty and that duty does NOT mean a martyrdom suicide pact. GOD SAVE ALL HERE & Happy Eastertide!!
