The Promise of Persecution
May 4th Readings Reflection: Saturday of the Fifth Week of Easter
In today’s short yet poignant Gospel reading, Jesus tells His disciples that the world would hate them just as it hated Him. Jesus told them that “[n]o slave is greater than his master,” meaning that since Jesus had to undergo suffering and persecution, all of His disciples must expect to experience the same.
Our experience shows the truth of this prophecy. The world hates Christians because they believe in an objective moral standard that often contradicts the lies of the world. The world hates Christians because they believe in an eternal God Who is King of the universe and of each and every human being. Christians know that their lives are not their own; rather, everything that we are—our entire beings—belongs to God. In the midst of a world that idolizes temporal things, we strive to keep our eternal God, the Creator of the universe, at the center of our lives.
As my priest recently said in a sermon, Christians live differently than the rest of the world; this is because we live with our eyes on eternity. We know that this world is merely temporary and that true happiness can only be attained in the world to come. As a result, we hopefully do not spend our earthly lives seeking worldly and sensual pleasures but instead practice self-denial and cultivate virtues in order to “lay up to [our]selves treasures in heaven” (Mt 6:20 DRB).
The world hates us just as it hated—and sadly continues to hate—Christ, because when we are in the state of sanctifying grace, Christ lives in us and we live for Him (cf. Gal 2:20). Through our witness, we remind the world of eternity and the need for repentance, but the world, in its hardness of heart that is not unlike that of the Pharao in Exodus, so often refuses to listen. The world hardens its heart against Christ, and we often bear the sufferings that result.
However, as Our Lord told His disciples and all of us, we are eternally blessed for enduring persecution for His sake (see Mt 5:11-12). Despite the darkness of the prophecy in today’s Gospel, we have the light of hope for eternal salvation as our reward for remaining faithful. May God give us the grace to remain faithful to Him in spite of persecution so that we may one day inherit our heavenly reward.
Amen!