The Curse of Worldliness and the Gift of Persecution

Gospel Reflection for February 16, 2025 - Luke 6:17, 20-26

And coming down with them, he stood in a plain place, and the company of his disciples, and a very great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and the sea coast both of Tyre and Sidon,

And he, lifting up his eyes on his disciples, said: Blessed are ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

Blessed are ye that hunger now: for you shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for you shall laugh.

Blessed shall you be when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.

Be glad in that day and rejoice; for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For according to these things did their fathers to the prophets.

But woe to you that are rich: for you have your consolation.

Woe to you that are filled: for you shall hunger. Woe to you that now laugh: for you shall mourn and weep.

Woe to you when men shall bless you: for according to these things did their fathers to the false prophets. (Luke 6:17, 20-26 DRA)

One of the most difficult truths to accept and to remember as a Catholic, despite constant reminders of it in our daily lives, is that this world is ruled by Satan. St. John made this especially clear: “Now is the judgment of the world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out… because the prince of this world is already judged.” (Jn 12:31; 16:11) As can be seen in the story of Job, since man has abdicated his position as steward of Creation through original sin, Satan has taken his place and rules this fallen world as its prince, with the power to cause disruption and affliction both in the material world and in our interior lives, all for the purpose of leading us away from God.

For this reason, it could be said that the chief human sin, under which many other sins are contained as species within a genus, is worldliness. Our Lord thus teaches in today’s Gospel that those who are beloved by the world, who receive its fame, comforts, pleasures and approval, do not belong to God but to Satan. The more that someone is admired and celebrated by the world, the farther he is from God, because worldly gifts are distributed by its prince, who is the devil. Accordingly, as St. John wrote, “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world.” (1 Jn 2:15-16)

In this way, he distinguishes between two worlds which are wholly opposed: the world of the Father, the Heaven for which we pray in the Pater Noster, and the world of Satan. We become members and children of Satan precisely through sin: by rejecting the Father, we abandon His world and become citizens of Satan’s kingdom on Earth. “He that committeth sin is of the devil: for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God appeared, that he might destroy the works of the devil… In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil. Whosoever is not just, is not of God, nor he that loveth not his brother.” (1 Jn 3:8, 10)

Among all heresies, the Prosperity Gospel ranks as one of the most pernicious, contradicting the true Gospel in the most fundamental way by confusing the world of Satan with the world of God. But this heresy isn’t limited to its megachurch pastors – it includes any Christian who sees the blessings of the world as a sign of God’s favor, and likewise the hardships of the world as a sign of God’s disfavor. While God does “maketh his sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust”, (Mt 5:45) the good things of this world are not meant to be enjoyed for their own sake as idols but to be appreciated as sacramental icons of God’s mysteries and to be given away in gratuitous charity. This is why, as Coventry Patmore wrote, “When the Tempter can no longer persuade us to our destruction by representing unclean things as clean, he perpetually harasses us, and endeavors to delay our progress by representing clean things as unclean.”

But at another level, the approval and adulation of the world is an even clearer sign of someone’s true allegiance, most of all when those who control the most corrupt elements of society, including the media, entertainment, education and government, uphold someone as their greatest champion. The reverse, however, is also true: when the rulers of this present darkness reject someone, attempt to “cancel” him and hinder his good work, this is a sign that the object of their hatred is working for the cause of the Kingdom of God.

Unfortunately, many in the Church today, on all levels, also fall into this worldliness, even many Catholics who otherwise believe everything the Church teaches. Laypeople who see their wealth and popularity in the world as an indication of God’s favor are, perhaps unknowingly, following the Prosperity Gospel, and belong more to Satan than to the Father. But there is an even greater danger, most of all in members of the hierarchy, when Catholics attempt to accommodate the fashions and errors of the world, with all its perversions of truth, goodness and beauty, often in a spirit of “progressivism” which sees the Church as a purely human institution constantly “evolving” through the corrective influence of whatever is considered politically correct today.

St. John warns that these Catholics are “many Antichrists”: “They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have remained with us; but that they may be manifest, that they are not all of us.” (1 Jn 2:18-19) By their worldliness, they deny Christ and become members of the earthly kingdom of Satan rather than the heavenly Kingdom of God. One can see this, for example, when two prominent members of a government who claim to be Catholic, such as its president and speaker of the house, are in office for four years, not including many previous decades of work, and publicly advocate for the genocide of unborn children, homosexuality, transgenderism, religious indifferentism, legal anarchism and many other evils, without receiving any official condemnation from the leaders of the Church (except by individuals who are themselves ostracized and persecuted) but instead are celebrated as “good Catholics” and continue to participate in the sacramental life of the Church as though in full communion despite their blatant sin. Then, when a true Catholic who actually believes in the teachings of the Church, such as the perennial truth of the ordo amoris and the sanctity of life, and lives an exemplary life of virtue finally takes office, he is singled out for persecution by the hierarchy, from its highest level down, and receives none of the approval and encouragement given to his wicked predecessors.

This is a clear indication of worldliness in the Church. These Catholics desperately need our prayers, even more than those they persecute. We must always uphold the truth and love what is good, rejoicing when this leads to persecution by the world and abjection by Satan, when, like Job, our “good” friends blame us for our earthly afflictions and Satan tempts us to accuse God, for this is in fact what St. Ignatius of Loyola called a consolation from God, a reassurance that we are on the lighted path that leads to Heaven. If our roots are plunged securely into the river of light flowing from the heavenly throne of God, no earthly fires of Satan can destroy us: our poverty becomes spiritual treasure, our hunger becomes filled with the Bread of Life, and our persecution becomes a sharing in the redemptive suffering of the Cross.