Currently Reading: Tortured For Christ (continued)

But looking at men like this (those who abused him in prison)--not as they are, but as they will be--I could also see in our persecutors a Saul of Tarsus--a future apostle Paul. And some have already become so. Many officers of the secret police to whom we witnessed became Christians and were happy to later suffer in prison for having found our Christ. Although we were whipped, as Paul was, in our jailers we saw the potential of the jailer in Philippi who became a convert. We dreamed that soon they would ask, "What must I do to be saved?" In those who mocked the Christians who were tied to crosses and smeared with excrement, we saw the crowd of Golgotha who were soon to beat their breasts in fear of having sinned.

It was in prison that we found the hope of salvation for the Communists. It was there that we developed a sense of responsibility toward them. It was in being tortured by them that we learned to love them.

A great part of my family was murdered. It was in my own house that their murderer was converted. It was also the most suitable place (58).