I don’t know what God has in store for me, but in case he may wish to choose me as a victim, I want to write you a few words of affection and advice coming from the depths of my heart.
As I am writing this to you, brothers who were born on the same Hispanic soil and suckled with the milk of the same faith are persecuting one another as if they were irreconcilable enemies. And the fury of the fratricidal strife has reached such a pitch that everywhere you see nothing but ruin and death, especially in the Church of God, which is now being cruelly crucified in our homeland, just as He was on Calvary.
What are we to do, and what are they to do who will be left alive after this terrible massacre? As far as God’s ministers are concerned, they are to be holy as God is holy. And how will you put this formula into practice yourself? Now as a seminarian, and later as a priest, you must live with the spirit of faith, and in whatever you do, great or small, (according to the graces God chooses to send you) refer everything to God with the purest intention of pleasing Him. Seek the love of God in all your actions. What use is it to gain the whole world at the cost of your soul? We priests run the risk of going after the good things of the world, collecting titles, honours, and wealth, and these will be a greater obstacle to us at the hour of our death than they would be for the ordinary faithful.
On the other hand, the love of God will sweeten everything for us and make it all easy and bearable, because love is stronger than death. And when death comes, God’s love will still pursue you into the blessedness of eternal life. Worldly things pass away, but love does not pass away, as the holy Doctor Saint Bonaventure says in the beautiful phrase: “Everything passes except the love of God”. Seek God, therefore, gently, constantly, and boldly (but without anxiety or undue haste). Behave in all things like a humble servant of God and of Jesus Christ and our dear Mother. Thus you will fulfil the plan of Divine Providence in your regard and give great glory to your uncle, just as I hope you will give glory to God and remember me in your prayers an sacrifices.
Remember me to your superiors, who are workers in the Lord’s vineyard, and receive the blessing of your uncle, who embraces you in the Lord.
Letter of Blessed Aurelio da Vinalesa to his nephew Vicente Ample Rios. The Blessed was murdered by Republican forces on August 28, 1936. He died shouting Viva Christo Rey!
