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| Martyrdom of St. James |
I generally read Acts of the Apostles during the Easter Season. How that book impresses one with God's Providence. No matter what persecution falls on the heads of the apostles and disciples of Christ, good comes from it. - The persecution of the Christians in Jerusalem, particularly after the execution of James by Herod (about 15 years after the resurrection), sends Christian disciples all over the known world spreading the gospel. The blood of the martyrs is, indeed, the seedbed of the faith.
- As the early martyrs go singing to their deaths, the faith spreads not only among those already oriented toward faith, but to their persecutors converted by their amazing witness.
- The destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. accelerates the exodus and sends believers out en masse to evangelize the known world. What looked like an unmitigated disaster becomes an important means of spreading the faith.
