Blood of martyrs, seed of Christianity

The title above was from the original Latin of ancient Christian religious writers, from the original phrase Sanguis Martyrum Semen Christianitatis (translate: Blood of martyrs, seed of Christianity).  The martyrs’ blood of people who stood for their Christian faith, as the blood fell to the earth, it produced new seeds of converts to Christianity.  Standing for our faith means not just standing against all opposition but maintaining a life of prayer and allegiance to  God, in spite of trying circumstances such as persecution or mockery from opposing elements.

That has been the experience of Christians since the very beginning.  Even so in the example of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The conclusion is clear.  The sufferings and trials of life have a positive value in our spiritual training and is the way God wants to bring us greater spiritual successes.  That’s the reason Jesus said: “Unless you carry your cross everyday, you cannot be my disciples” (Lk. 9:23).  Jesus said these words, not just as lip service, but really put it into practice.  Christianity being put into practice in the words, deeds and lives of Christians is what Jesus meant when He described it thus: “You, therefore, are to hear the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the Kingdom without understanding, the evil one comes and carries off what was sown in his heart: this is the man who received the seed on the edge of the path.  The one who received it on patches of rock is the man who hears the word and welcomes it at once with joy.  But he has no root in him, he does not last; let some trial come, or some persecution on account of the word, and he falls away at once.  The one who received the seed in thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this world and the lure of riches choke the word and so he produces nothing.  And the one who received the seed in rich soil is the man who hears and understands it; he is the one who yields a harvest and produces now a hundredfold, now sixty, now thirty” (Mt. 13:18-23).