Madrid, Spain, Apr 30, 2007 / 09:38 am
The Bishops’ Conference of Spain has published a message upon concluding its Plenary Assembly to mark the beatification next fall in Rome of 498 martyrs from the 1936 Civil War saying, “The martyrs, who died forgiving, are the greatest encouragement for all of us to foster the spirit of reconciliation.”
The bishops invited Spaniards to prepare themselves well “for this feast and to participate in such a way that it becomes a new stimulus for the renewal of Christian life. We need it in a special way in these times in which, at the same time a secularist mentality is spreading, reconciliation appears threatened in our society.”
Likewise, they prayed that “through the witness and the intercession of the martyrs, may our hope be invigorated and our charity be ignited. Motivated by the hope of eternal Life, they learned to put love and obedience of the evangelical law above their own lives, the new greater law of love and promoter of the dignity and freedom of each person. The martyrs are supreme witnesses of the truth that makes us free.” The bishops pointed out that “the martyrs are above the tragic circumstances that lead to their deaths. With their beatification, we seek above all to glorify God for the faith that overcomes the world and transcends the darkness of history and faults of mankind.”
“They have given glory to God with their lives and with their death and they have become for us all signs of love, of forgiveness and of peace. The martyrs, by uniting their blood to that of Christ’s, are prophets of redemption and of a divine future, truly better, for each person and for all of humanity,” they explained.