“Martyrdom is not only dying for the faith. Martyrdom also consists in serving God with love and purity of heart every day of one’s life.” (St. Jerome)
With these words of St. Jerome, we are all invited to undergo—or rather, to carry out—the martyrdom of love every day, if you will. Not only does the highly esteemed martyrdom of blood for the holy faith shine with a bright light, but so does the hidden life in Christ, which we call the path to holiness. This holds true even when no one takes notice, for our heavenly Father sees our efforts very clearly, supports them, and inspires them with His grace.
It is a path that requires perseverance and constant encouragement when we recognize the limits of our capacity for love. Recognizing them is helpful, but dwelling on disappointment is wrong.
Rather, this awareness helps us become more humble so that we may avoid overestimating ourselves—a dangerous tendency arising from our human nature.
Instead of closing ourselves off, we must open ourselves to God at this point. We must humbly acknowledge that our capacity for love is limited. But then we should combine this with an urgent plea for a “widening of the heart” and a “transformation of the heart,” so that God’s love may enable us to love.
This is the opposite of giving up and resigning ourselves to our fate. Rather, it is a journey toward God. Would our heavenly Father truly refuse to transform our small, narrow, and often self‑centered hearts? Certainly not! After all, He said: “A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26)
On this path, this becomes a reality: Our hearts become purer, and our love grows greater—to the joy of our divine Father.