Does rejecting bloodshed mean risking martyrdom?
Yes, for Jesus taught us that “he who loves his life will lose it, and he who loses his life will find it” and Pope John Paul II taught us that the most faithful of Christians have given their lives for their enemies. Yet not all are called to martyrdom, but rather to holiness, to sainthood, to risk our lives for Christ. Saint Francis went unarmed into the Crusade, confronted the Islamic General with the love of Jesus Christ, and returned home unmartyred.