I don't believe in fate.
The martyrdom each and every one will go through is no laughing matter. Martyrdom is pain and suffering, it is being ground under the millstone. This is raw reality. At the same time, if you accept this martyrdom without reservations, it becomes a gift and it becomes grace. In this you receive union and achieve communion with God.
Everything points to one thing: in martyrdom lies the secret. This is the undertaking. This is the width and depth of spiritual things. Do you believe this? Everything else is a fairy tale.
A patient while he was experiencing such a revelation of death and the reality he would be leaving this world, said: "I wish I had been in the same frame of mind I am now my whole life." This man by nature, because of his inner makeup, was very attached to earthly things.
I vaguely remember a time when I cared about what others thought about me. Maybe it was a dream. Apathy prevents me from dwelling on the subject too long.