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Be Not Afraid Couragefor the godless. Why do you wait? Bring on whatever youwill.After he said this, the mob piled brushwood aroundhim and (though he was already bound with ropes)threatened to nail him to the stake to make sure hewouldn’t escape. Polycarp remained calm, saying: “Letme be. He who gives me the strength to endure the firewill also give me the strength to remain at the stakeunflinching, without the help of your nails.”Like Polycarp, countless men and women – andnot only Christians, but Jews, Muslims, and people ofother faiths as well – have paid for their convictionswith their lives. And I believe we have much to learnfrom them. Will we meet death with similar courageand conviction – with the confidence that comes frombeing at peace with God and ourselves? Or will weshrink from it in fear, circling around our regrets andmistakes, and wishing we had the chance to live lifeover again?Because martyrdom is basically an historicphenomenon, such questions may not seemurgent today. But courage is not an old-fashionedvirtue. It is a vital weapon. And we will not comethrough the arena of death – an arena each of uswill have to enter one day – without it. That is why1