“That the Life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our mortal flesh.”
— 2 Corinthians 4:11
As the light of Easter still lingers in the liturgy—though we have now passed the great Octave—Holy Mother Church continues to turn our gaze toward the mystery of suffering and martyrdom as the necessary path to glory. Today’s readings, taken from 2 Corinthians 4:5–14 and Matthew 10:23–28, draw us into the apostolic mission and its demands: not merely preaching Christ but embodying His death, so as to manifest His life.
“Always bearing about in our body the mortification of Jesus…” (2 Cor. 4:10)
St. Paul speaks not as a detached teacher, but as one who bears in his flesh the death of Christ. As St. John Chrysostom comments on this passage:
“The death of Jesus signifies not only dangers, but the daily contempt and trials which the Apostles endured. And this death was the cause of life for others: for by the very fact that they were despised and persecuted, their preaching became more credible.”
(Homilies on 2 Corinthians, Homily 9)
This is the paradox at the heart of Christian witness. The Apostle suffers, is broken, is “delivered unto death,” yet from this death springs life for others. The faithful soul must reckon with the same mystery: unless the grain of wheat fall to the ground and die, it cannot bring forth fruit.
We are reminded during Paschaltide that the Resurrection is not an escape from the Cross, but its vindication. St. Gregory the Great echoes this in his Homilies on the Gospels:
“The Resurrection of the Lord is our hope, but His Passion is our refuge. In this world we must pass through suffering to reach glory.”
(Hom. in Evang., II.15)
The sufferings endured by the Apostles and the martyrs were not anomalies—they are the pattern. The resurrection is not separated from suffering but shines through it.
“Fear not them that kill the body…” (Matt. 10:28)
Our Lord’s words to His Apostles in Matthew’s Gospel are both bracing and consoling. He does not promise them earthly peace or popularity. Rather, He forewarns them of persecution: “When they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another.” The life of the disciple is marked by flight and witness, rejection and perseverance. Yet, He bids them not to fear. Why?
Because God is sovereign—not only over the body, but over the soul. St. Augustine, commenting on this verse, writes:
“Men may kill the body, but they cannot kill the soul. Therefore, we should not fear the loss of what is temporal, but rather the loss of what is eternal.”
(Sermon 94, On the Words of the Gospel, Matt. 10)
This is the courage of the martyrs. This is why the early Christians, many of whom we commemorate during this season, went to their deaths singing psalms. In today’s context, while few may be called to martyrdom of blood, all are called to die daily to sin, pride, and the spirit of the world.
Paschaltide and the Martyr’s Path
It is fitting that in the weeks following Easter, the Church gives us these stark words. The liturgy does not lull us into sentimental triumphalism; instead, it gradually unfolds the cost of the Resurrection. It asks: “Are you willing to bear His wounds, that His life may be shown in you?” As Tertullian famously wrote:
“The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”
(Apologeticus, 50)
The joy of Easter is not an escape from suffering, but the conquest of it. And this conquest comes not by power, but by fidelity. As Paul says, “We believe, and therefore we speak.” The faith that speaks must first be the faith that suffers and endures.
Let us then ask, with all humility, for the grace to manifest in our bodies the death of Jesus—through patience in trials, courage in witness, and joy in affliction—so that His life may shine through our mortal flesh.
Prayer (in the spirit of today’s readings):
O God, who through the Passion of Thy Only-Begotten Son hast sanctified the sufferings of Thy saints, grant that we, bearing about in our bodies the mortification of Jesus, may ever rejoice in the hope of His Resurrection. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.