This past weekend I went Munich, Germany for Oktoberfest. Before we went to the festival we took a bike tour around the city. Out of the countless historical places we passed, saw, and learned about, there were two that stuck out in my mind. The two monuments that were dedicated to Nazi resisters, German citizens in World War II who were openly against the largest and most dangerous political party in their country.
The first monument was for seven young student resisters, who attempted to pass out pamphlets in their school in order to alert people to what was really happening during the war. A brother and sister were the first to be caught, and after being starved and tried, they refused to give up the other members of the group, and were sentenced to death by Guillotine. Throughout the rest of the war the other five were eventually caught and killed. It was mean to be a statement to the German people, that resistance would not be tolerated, however it had the complete opposite effect, and people began to fight back.
The second monument, a simple golden line on the cobblestones on the street, was for an even larger group of people. During the war, after Hitler came to power, he put in a Nazi memorial on the street perpendicular to this one, to honor the fallen soldiers that dies years earlier during his first attempt to take over Munich, the reason he was jailed (when he wrote Mein Kampf or My Struggle). The people of Germany were expected to do the Nazi salute whenever they passed the memorial, and if they did not comply they were beaten by German soldiers patrolling the area. So those who refused, began to cut across this street to get to where they were going, avoiding the monument altogether. When the soldiers figured out what was being done, they immediately began to watch for these people, recorded who they were, sought them out, and killed them and their families. This memorial was put there for them, and their bravery.
As I heard these stories, it took all of my energy to hold back tears. How afraid these people must have been, and yet how brave they were. To resist and to face death, an end they must have known was coming, and yet they did not back down. And how cowardly are we, when we lie to avoid a confrontation, or we deny what we believe to avoid conflict? I know I have been that cowardly at points in my life.
Sometimes I wonder, when faced with such a challenge, would most of us back down? or would we fight to the very end, until death? They are martyrs, and they should be commemorated as such, if I was given the opportunity, would I be brave enough to be a martyr?
My first instinct is to say no, I do not have nearly enough faith in myself to be a confident yes. But maybe even if it's a no right now, it's still a no that's on its way to a yes.
How many times have we, when someone asks us why it is we go to church on Sundays, with a sneer and a judgmental brow, have brushed it off as not a big deal? How many times do we, choose instead to do something else other than going to church, or bible study, or confession when we should have been? How many times have we, forgotten who it is that gave us life in the first place, and that it actually doesn't belong to us, but to Him.
I do these things all the time. And when I remember I am so sorry that I ever forgot in the first place. Because I want to be like a martyr, I want to say yes even when everyone else is saying no, and even when with saying yes it might cost me my life. Because I gave my life away the minute I gave it to God, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Hearing those stories made me realize... I want to pray every day for the strength of that Yes. That Yes that echoed in Mary's words at the visitation, the Yes in the blood of Christ as he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. The Yes of those German martyrs, whose innocence and bravery will be remembered forever. I want to say my own Yes, and it's a struggle that lasts a lifetime, but if it's not my life to live, then there is nothing else that would give me greater pleasure than the sacrifice of a Yes.
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