Calling for death at the circus Spanish
Jesus suffered the Interior Martyrdom all His life.
Jesus told our Community:
"Suffer all with Me, no longer two but one in My sacrifice of love"
Ven. Conchita: "The interior cross of our Lord began with His Incarnation and was consummated when He delivered His Spirit into His Father's hands". -Spiritual Diary, pg. 187
"Through the external cross which all can see, I was a victim acceptable to the Father by shedding My blood, but is was above all through the interior cross that Redemption was accomplished" -Conchita's Diary, September 7, 1896
Martyrs of love
Some Christians are called to shed blood for Christ, but ALL are called to live the interior martyrdom of the heart. In this way each member of His body suffers some of what He suffers. No one is a martyr of blood without first being a martyr of love interiorly.
"Martyr" means witness. We witness by participating in the love of Jesus crucified, in his suffering for the wounds of His body and the lost souls. Mary is the best example.
See also: Martyrdom of Mary, Maternal Martyrdom (Pope Francis)
Does Christ matter? Is the truth He teaches enough to make suffering worthwhile? Is His love so great that I would accept any Cross in order to be faithful?
-Pope Benedict XVIPOPE FRANCIS
The Church has suffered martyrdom in every century. (See: 
St John Fisher).
"More Martyrs today than during early Church". 3/4/2014. Source>>
"Christians that suffer through times of persecution, through times when worship is prohibited, are a prophetic sign of what will happen to everyone" 11/29/2013 Source>> (Sadly, most Christians in the West are oblivious to it.
Martyrdom in Daily Life
Pope Francis, Homily, May 11, 2015, Source>>
A Christian who does not take the dimension of martyrdom seriously in life does not understand the road that Jesus has indicated: a road that invites us to bear witness every day, defending the rights of others; defending our children; mothers and fathers who defend their family; so many sick people who bear witness and suffer for the love of Jesus. All of us have the possibility of bringing forward this life-giving Easter message, bearing witness, without being scandalized”.
Pope Francis concludes with this prayer: “Let us ask the Lord for the grace to receive the Holy Spirit who will remind us of Jesus’ words, who will guide us in truth throughout our lives and prepare us to bear witness in our lives, with small every day martyrdoms, or with a great martyrdom, according to God’s will”.
SAINT JOHN PAUL II: Do we enter the drama of the martyrs?
Speaking of the Roman martyrs:
"we must remember the drama they experienced in their soul, in which human fear and superhuman courage were confronted, as well as the will to live and the will to be faithful until death, the sense of solitude before immutable hatred and at the same time, the experience of the strength that comes from the nearby and invisible presence of God and the common faith of the early Church. Is is necessary to remember that drama so that the question be raised: Is some of that drama verified in me?"
Why be martyrs? To be a martyr is to become one with Christ. This is the fulfillment of baptism, this is the fullness of love and being. Some are called to be red martyrs, but all are called to enter the interior martyrdom of Christ, to suffer this battle as ONE Him. The Lord laments that so few respond! Few really love Him enough!
Saint Augustine said:
"The whole of history is a struggle between two loves: love of oneself to contempt of God; love of God to contempt of self, in martyrdom. We are in this struggle and in this struggle it is very important to have friends."
Bishop Fulton John Sheen. d. 1979:
"The world is rapidly being divided into two camps, the comradeship of anti-Christ and the brotherhood of Christ. The lines between these two are being drawn. How long the battle will be we know not; whether swords will have to be unsheathed we know not; whether blood will have to be shed we know not; whether it will be an armed conflict we know not. But in a conflict between truth and darkness, truth cannot lose."
Truth cannot lose. It wins by being crucified.
This is the daily crucifixion, the interior martyrdom. St. Paul writes about facing death daily.
POPE BENEDICT XVI
The martyrdom of daily fidelity to the Gospel
"Celebrating the martyrdom of St. John the Baptist also reminds us -- Christians in our own times -- that we cannot give into compromise when it comes to our love for Christ, for his Word, for his Truth," he said. "The Truth is the Truth; there is no compromise. The Christian life requires, as it were, the 'martyrdom' of daily fidelity to the Gospel; the courage, that is, to allow Christ to increase in us and to direct our thoughts and actions.
"But this can only occur in our lives if our relationship with God is strong. Prayer is not time lost, nor does it steal space away from our activities, even those that are apostolic; it is exactly the opposite: only if we are able to have a life of faithful, constant, trusting prayer, will God himself give us the ability and strength to live in happiness and peace, to overcome difficulties and to courageously bear witness to him. May St. John the Baptist intercede for us, that we might always maintain the primacy of God in our lives."
-Benedict XVI, 8/29/2012, Full text
All baptized have priestly mission
Jesus told Ven. Conchita, "There are souls, who through ordination receive a priestly anointing. However, there are ... also priestly souls who do not have the dignity or the ordination of a priest, yet have a priestly mission. They offer themselves united to me... these souls help the Church in a very powerful spiritual way. ... You will be the mother of a great number of spiritual children, yet they will cost your heart the death of a thousand martyrs." -Cited by Congregation for the Clergy >>>
Our vocation in Love Crucified is to say "YES" to the Lord's invitation to "Suffer all with Him, no longer two but one, in His sacrifice of love", to be unite with Him in His Interior Martyrdom.
St. Benedicta of the Cross: "Through the power of the Cross you can be present wherever there is pain" The World is in Flames!
Saint John of Avila, doctor of the Church,
teaches that the path for those who love God is to strive to be martyrs.
The love of God does not consist in mere words, but in sorrow and bitter sufferings, in being despised by the world, abandoned by all creatures, and, it may seem, at times, in the withdrawal of even our Creator's favor. In spite of all these trials, the Christian's courage must be firm; he must not complain, not lose heart; he should imitate the martyr who, while they were disemboweling him and tearing the flesh from his bones with iron hooks, had no words on his lips but the Name of Jesus, nor any thought in his heart but “Blessed be God.” He was willing and resolute to bear even greater torments, if it pleased God to send them. Affliction, when borne for Christ, is both a gift and a grace, which he only bestows on his favorites...
Let us strive to be martyrs by patience, for though our pains may be less severe, they yet last longer. We ought not to wish for a happy life, but prefer a martyrdom on earth; it was our Lord's portion, and he wishes ours to be the same. Some have died as martyrs for the faith, and others have gone to heaven without doing so, but we must all be martyrs of love, if we wish to arrive there. This love must be a torment and a pain for us, because by the offense given to God by ourselves and others; it must deprive us of all comfort in life, and load our shoulders with the cross. It must make us embrace hardships and overcome them by the burning charity God has kindled in us. This love so carries us out of ourselves that it makes us perfectly insensible to dishonor, as wine takes away the reason of a drunkard. Like all strong affection, it makes a man forget himself; and care only for his Beloved, who in this case is God himself, and his most holy will... We cannot fully realize the strength of the love which tortures us here, and will console us in the next world. Let us believe what God has told us of it, and walk in the faith of his Word, for we have still a long journey before us.
