Ave Maria Meditations
As soon as I believed there was a God, I understood I could do nothing else but live for him, my religious vocation dates from the same moment as my faith: God is so great. There is such a difference between God and everything that is not.
Blessed Charles prayed to be a martyr: To prepare oneself constantly for martyrdom, and accept it without a shadow of reluctance, like the Divine Lamb-in Jesus, through Jesus, for Jesus- I must try and live as if I were to die a martyr today. Every minute I must imagine I am going to be martyred this very evening.
OUR LORD TO BL. CHARLES IN PRAYER ON HIS WISH TO BE A MARTYR:
“This life will be followed by death. You wish for a martyr’s death. You know how cowardly you are, but you know too that you can do all things in Him who gives you strength, that I am all powerful in My creatures. Ask day and night for it but always with this condition, that it be My will, and for My glory and my pleasure which I know you desire and pray for above all things. And have confidence; I will grant what you ask, that which is for My greater glory. It is good to ask for this, for ‘there is no greater love than to give your life for the beloved,’ and it is right to wish to give Me this greatest love of all“’
Blessed Charles was martyred on December 1, 1916 in Algeria where he had gone to live in order to bring the Presence of Christ to be amongst the people there.
