Jesus Freaks -- The Voice of the Martyrs

• A Communist officer told a Christian he was beating, "I am almighty, as you suppose your God to be. I can kill you." The Christian answered, "The power is all on my side. I can love you while you torture me to death."

• "My Lord was pleased to die for my sins; why should I not be glad to give up my poor life out of love to Him."

  - Girolamo Savanarola - Martyred, Florence, Italy - 1498.

• Two Chinese Christians were led to torture and death. One quoted Jesus' words, "It is finished," in a whisper. His brother answered, "No, that's not what Jesus said when He suffered. He said, Is is accomplished.`"

• "Jesus is everything."

  - Mother Theresa - Gave her life to the poor of India. Died in 1997.

• "Lord God, these men take away my life full of misery, but You will give me life everlasting." - Maurice Blanc - Martyred in Merindol 1547.

• "Now I suffer what I suffer; but then Another will be in me who will suffer for me, because I too will be suffering for Him."

  - Felicitas - Martyred in Carthage, North Africa, 202 AD.

• "God, accept all my sufferings, my tiredness, my humiliations, my tears, my nostalgia, my being hungry, my suffering of cold, all the bitterness accumulated in my soul. Dear Lord, have pity on those who persecute and torture us day and night. Grant them, too, the divine grace of knowing the sweetness and happiness of Your love."

  - Woman prisoner in Siberia - Vorkuta, USSR - circa 1960's.

• "Sufferings daily borne for others convert more people than sermons."

  - Therses of Lisieux

• "Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master. Be ready to speak and up and tell anyone who asks why you're living the way you are." - Peter the Apostle - Martyred in Rome, 65 AD.

• "Death is much sweeter to me with the testimony of truth than life with the least denial." - Geleazium - Martyred in St. Angelo, Italy - Middle Ages.