On the Difference

between martyrs and martyrs:

On days like this, when the Catholic Church reveres a martyr, I am struck by a signal truth: the only innocent blood that was shed is that of the martyr. In other words, they didn't go out with "a bang", trying to bring as many down with them as possible. To me, that fact alone proves the supernatural Truth of the Way...

Below is a letter St. Cyprian wrote to honor those who fell as martyrs, and to encourage those who may fall in the service of Our Lord. The martial symbolism is not lost on me. Nor is the call to spiritual arms. But as you read the letter below, keep in mind that each of these martyrs never lifted a sword against their oppressor. And they each, as Cyprian does, knew who the oppressor really is, and that lifting a sword against a mere pawn of that oppressor was, and still is, pointless.

Sun Tzu once wrote that,

All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.

St. Cyprian saw the strategy, and so does every Christian who dies as a martyr. This is one of the myriad paradoxes of our life of faith. I believe Sun Tzu would understand this since he said,

Confront them with annihilation, and they will then survive; plunge them into a deadly situation, and they will then live. When people fall into danger, they are then able to strive for victory.

If Sun Tzu would have been alive when the missionaries first came to China, I think he would have understood the Way...