How to be Hated? Love Jesus.
Memorial of Saint Benedict, Abbot, July 11th 2025
What is the cost of discipleship? What is the cost of the charism of Missio Dei—the first mission of the Church, the proclamation of the gospel? Our Lord in today’s gospel lays out plainly what the cost will be for loving Him. You will be hated because of Jesus’ name.
Brother will hand over brother to death,
and the father his child;
children will rise up against parents and have them put to death.
You will be hated by all because of my name,
but whoever endures to the end will be saved.
What is interesting is how the world will likely handle your legacy once you’ve gone to your reward. If you love our Lord Jesus, they will either mock you or lie about your faith. For example, after reading Michael F. Steltenkamp’s book on Servant of God Nicholas Black Elk, it’s astonishing to me how the Lakota religion developed into a monotheism receptive to Christian missionaries during the late 19th century, particularly the missions set up by the Jesuits. The book details that it was said Chief Red Cloud died a good Catholic. Black Elk, a Lakota medicine man, who as a youth was present at the Battle of Little Bighorn and later the Wounded Knee massacre, through interviews for books that would become Black Elk Speaks and The Sacred Pipe, became arguably the best-known American Indian.
Black Elk was known as a Lakota warrior and medicine man to large audiences in the 20th century. However, during the last 40 years of Black Elk’s life, he converted to the Catholic Church and served as a catechist, teaching the Catholic faith to the people of the Pine Ridge Reservation. The catechist in Black Elk’s time resembled more closely our modern diaconate, which was reinstated in the mid-20th century. The Catholic faith was a huge part of Black Elk’s life—why didn’t people know about it?
No one wanted you to know about it. From John Neinhardt to your anthropology and sociology department at your local college wants you to believe the myth that the Neo-pan Indian religion has always existed before European settlement. It’s astonishing how a narrative can collectively misrepresent the legacy of one person. It was a chance meeting between Mark Theil, the archivist at Marquette University, and Black Elk’s grandson during the canonization of St. Kateri Tekakwitha, the question of why this (a canonization) couldn't be done for Black Elk?
Since that chance meeting, much of Black Elk’s Catholic faith has come into the public discourse. Furthermore, studying the Lakota religion—rather than the creation of a so-called pan-Indian religion—shows why many Lakota leaders, such as Red Cloud, were receptive to the message of the Jesuits. The historiography of modern academia over the past 100 years has been more or less anti-Christian bigotry. The concept of cultural appropriation, which was not prevalent during the life of Black Elk, would have been foreign to him. The term proves to be anachronistic to the authentic views of the Lakota and other cultures, made up in the ivory towers of academia for the sole purpose of anti-Catholic bigotry.
Why? The world hates you because of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But fear not! The gospel for today reminds us that if we keep the faith, and we must give defense, then Jesus says, “You will be given at that moment what you are to say. For it will not be you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”
The court of public opinion will malign you. The wolves of academia will lie and distort your legacy for their own purposes. Nonetheless, the Lord has always been and will always be the refuge for those in times of distress. And we, the faithful, will still proclaim that the Salvation of the Just comes from the Lord.
This is all true. I grew up with several tribes. Most of my you was spent in and among the community of the 50,000 member Lumbee Tribe of NC. My later teens were spent with the Cherokee and remnants of the Catawbas, I have spent time with the Waccamaw and Chicora, etc. I have relatives in several tribes and learned herbal medicine from several. My lived experience is the opposite of what I was taught in college. I have never met a true Native American who was not a practicing Christian. There are tons of Christian churches in every tribal area I have ever been in, full of devout Christians, whose ministers are also Indians. All of the pagans who claim to practice Native American religions that I have met have been white. Some had a little Native blood, but their parents and grandparents were Christian. The academic and TV version of the American Indian is a farce. All those I have known have been great, family oriented rural folks who drive pickup trucks, love to hunt and fish, cheer on the Atlanta Braves and go to church on Sunday... they are also mostly Trump voters! Of course, I've known some outlaws and criminals too - there are bad folks in every race and culture, but Indians in the Carolinas are just normal folks who will proudly tell you about the church their grandparents founded or what their kids learned in Sunday School.
Thank you for writing about Black Elk, Phillip. I read the book a few years ago, and today you’ve managed to put into words what I had been trying to understand. Wonderful post. God bless.