My heart goes out tonight to all Bishops, Priests and Deacons of the Church, all the ministers called of God to die unto themselves in ways that often cannot be recognised by others.

When a man obeys and honours God because he truly desires to do so, he is a faithful child, a beloved servant. But when a man continues in his resolution to obey God despite his no longer desiring to do so, he is a martyr.

When he can no longer find traces of God's presence in his life and experiences nothing less than darkness, when prayers are lifted up to heaven only to fall back upon him like rain, and yet he continues walking the path of faithfuless, his salvation draws near.

When you suffer for the Kingdom in ways that people cannot even identify, and when your groans and moans fall on deaf ears because people deny you the privilege of recognition as a sufferer for God, you have truly embraced the way of Jesus Christ.

When you find yourself suffering but are unable to say it to anyone except to yourself, and when even God doesn't seem to have absorbed the agony transmitted in your prayers, you are the parable of all the saints who have trodden down the same painful path of salvation before.

Most Holy Mother of God, pray for us, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.