A martyrdom visible only to God

First Things

"It seems obscene, I know, to invoke the specter of martyrdom from within the relative safety and prosperity of the liberal West and all of our privileges and advantages and comforts, especially at a time when so many of our brothers and sisters elsewhere in the world are dying for the faith. . . .  And yet it seems to me that there’s a peculiar challenge to Christian faith and witness in the fact that technocratic order diffuses its power quietly, almost imperceptibly, without spectacle or responsibility, bleeding its victims slowly through ten thousand bureaucratic paper cuts rather than spectacularly with swords and lions in the Colliseum.  Not the least of these challenges is the very real possibility that one’s sufferings may be visible, in a media dominated world, only to God.  If a tree falls in the forest and The New York Times does hear it, does it make a sound?"

     Michael Hanby, "Technocracy and the future of Christian freedom," 4 May 2016, from 45:57.