(LifeSiteNews) — Joining me on this episode of The John-Henry Westen Show is Bishop Athanasius Schneider, auxiliary bishop of Astana, Kazakhstan. We discussed his new book on Christian martyrdom, No Greater Love: The True Meaning of Martyrdom.
I opened the episode by asking Schneider if the recently assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was not a Catholic but was rumored to be increasingly interested in the Church, could be considered a martyr. The bishop said yes, he could be considered a martyr, because he had spent his life boldly defending the teachings of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
“We could see in his life that he was very committed to defend the Christian faith, the uniqueness of our Lord Jesus Christ, the faith in Him as the only Redeemer of the world,” His Excellency said. “And also, he boldly defended God’s commandments about marriage and family, and … he was a defender of life.”
READ: Candace Owens releases alleged Charlie Kirk texts: ‘Catholicism is looking better and better’
“Charlie Kirk was defending Christ and God’s commandment(s) on these three issues, the uniqueness of our Lord Jesus Christ, inviting especially young people to believe in Jesus Christ as the only Savior. And then to be defenders of life against the anti-culture of death, and then the sanctity of marriage and family,” he added.
Schneider continued:
Therefore, we have to acknowledge it, and I think God will reward him for his (courageous) commitment. And he was, of course, conscious that with this, his commitment, he was going against the current, and was also provoking enemies and hatred against him, and he had known it…. Therefore, we can say he was killed, objectively … out of hatred against his (Christian) commitments…. In this sense, we can consider him a martyr.
Later in the episode, I asked Schneider why he wrote about the Blessed Virgin Mary as a martyr in his book, despite her never being killed or physically suffering like the other saints we normally consider martyrs. Citing St. Augustine, the bishop explained that it is not the suffering itself, but the cause of that suffering, that makes one a martyr. During Our Lord’s Passion, Our Lady exhibited the supernatural love that is the source of all martyrdom.
READ: The suffering of Mary during Christ’s Passion demonstrates her role in God’s redemption of mankind
“Our Lady … was beneath the cross, and she was the creature on earth who the most closely participated interiorly with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, with His intention, with His interior sacrifice,” he said. “St. Bernard of Clairvaux, he very beautifully explains it, he said, when the soldier pierced the heart of the Lord on the Cross, he first pierced the soul of Our Lady. And then, from this piercing of her soul, he pierced … the body of Our Lord. Before the soldier reached the body of Our Lord, his physical heart, he first trespassed and pierced the soul of Our Lady.”
“And therefore, her sufferings were the deepest ones which a human being can endure,” he added. “And so, the Church, since the (earliest) times, venerated her as the closest participant of the redemption of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and then she was called later even the Queen of Martyrs.”
To hear much more from Bishop Schneider, tune in to this episode of The John-Henry Westen Show.
To purchase His Excellency’s book, click HERE.
The John-Henry Westen Show is available by video via LSNTV on YouTube, Rumble, Banned, and right here on my LifeSite blog.
It is also available in audio format on platforms such as Spotify, Soundcloud, and Acast. We are awaiting approval for iTunes and Google Play as well. To subscribe to the audio version on various channels, visit the Acast webpage here.
We’ve created a special email list for the show so that we can notify you every week when we post a new episode. Please sign up now by clicking here. You can also subscribe to the YouTube channel, and you’ll be notified by YouTube when there is new content.
You can send me feedback, or ideas for show topics by emailing [email protected].
