"BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO ARE PERSECUTED FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS' SAKE"

VATICAN CITY, JUN 7, 1999 (VIS) - The Holy Father travelled this morning by helicopter from the Shrine of Our Lady of Lichen to the city of Bydgoszcz, at whose heliport he celebrated the Mass of the Martyrs in the presence of 500,000 faithful. His homily focussed on today's Gospel account of the Sermon on the Mount, in particular the beatitude "Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

He remarked that "Poland has never lacked such confessors of Christ," and added: "In the last decades Bydgoszcz has been marked in a particular way by 'persecution for righteousness' sake'. For here, in the first days of the Second World War, the Nazis carried out the first public executions of the city's defenders."

"'Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness' sake'. To whom do these words refer? To the many, many people to whom it was granted in the course of human history to suffer persecution for the sake of righteousness. ... Our century too has written a great martyrology. ... And how many martyrs were there during the Second World War and under communist totalitarianism! ... Now is the time to remember all these victims and to grant them the honor which is their due. These are 'the martyrs, many of them nameless', 'unknown soldiers' as it were, of God's great cause', as I wrote in the Apostolic Letter 'Tertio Millennio Adveniente'."

"Christ does not promise an easy life to those who follow him," stated John Paul II. "Instead, He proclaims that, by living according to the Gospel, his followers are to become a sign of contradiction. ... This firm perseverance alongside Christ and His Gospel, this readiness to face 'sufferings for righteousness' sake', often involve acts of heroism and can take the form of an authentic martyrdom, carried out every day and at every moment of life, drop by drop, until the final 'it is finished'."

"Alongside public martyrdom , which takes place before the eyes of many, how often does a hidden martyrdom take place in the depths of people's hearts: There is a martyrdom of the body and a martyrdom of the spirit, a martyrdom of our vocation and our mission, a martyrdom of the struggle with oneself and the victory over oneself."

"Martyrdom is a great and radical test for man," the Pope underscored. "Does not a mother find herself before a similar test when she chooses to sacrifice herself in order to save the life of her child? How numerous were and are these heroic mothers in our society. We thank them for their example of love, which does not shrink from the supreme sacrifice. Does not a believer find himself facing a test of this sort when he defends the right to religious freedom and to freedom of conscience?"

Pope John Paul ended his homily: "In our prayer we also embrace those who are still being put to the test. Christ says to them: 'Rejoice and be glad', because you share not only in My suffering but in My resurrection."

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