Articles

So often I see Catholic writers wondering how we can renew the church, and priests desperately trying to convince the parish to evangelize. Just recently I saw an article by someone explaining what he thought was the secret ingredient of how the early church grow 40% every decade for two hundred years.

But they’re wrong, and they’re all missing the obvious answer: it was martyrdoms. Personal holiness and self-sacrifice is the only true way to grow the church. Martyrs have always been the seeds of the church, and this will not change until the end of this age.

It makes sense why they’re looking everywhere but the plain truth for the answer: who wants to die a martyr? Life is good, but most Catholics love life more than they should, and aren’t willing to give it up. So instead, they look for novelties or shortcuts in every nook of Catholic history. But Jesus says there’s only one way: carry your cross and deny yourself daily.

Where is St. Padre Pio today, or the Cure of Ars, or St. Francis de Sales?

If only they read more of the lives and writings of the saints, they would see that there’s nothing in this life inherently worthwhile. The only things in this life that will last are things they should be willing to let go of, including the life of our current body, which is at most a seed preparing to be buried at death, and which will and transform into something new when Jesus comes back.

This doesn’t mean we all have to be literal martyrs. For most of us, it probably won’t come down to that. But where is the self-sacrifice in someone who has a 401k and watches Netflix every evening with a nice glass of $40 wine? No matter how many words they say or type, they will not convert a single soul, not even their own children. Painful self-denial is the only way to convert anyone.