We Do Not Belong to This World

Gospel Reflection for Wednesday June 4, 2025

Christ as Judge of the World, Rogier van der Wayden, Public Domain

We continue the Last Supper Narrative according to St. John with Christ interceding for His Apostles, and in a larger sense, all of those who would come to follow Him throughout time. Today, we hear of the world’s hatred for Our Lord and those who come after Him. Our Lord prays:

“I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the Evil One.” John 17:14-15

In these words, we can hear the outcome of following Christ. Being Christian naturally sets us up as contrary to the world. Our Lord Himself was prophesied to be a “sign of contradiction.”¹ The disciple will never fare better than his master, and so we remain signs of contradiction in this world. In modern times, the rot of society has only increased, and the temptation to conform to the comforts provided by the world is ever greater. Many Christians fall into the ease that the world offers. Going against the grain and standing for the sacredness of marriage, life, and truth are seen as crimes against the state, and those who dare contradict the common view are ostracized from society. Because of this, we do not belong to the world.

Our Lord tells us that the world will hate us, and so it does. Truly, if the world does not hate us, are we faithfully following Christ at all? Throughout Church History, every major empire has attempted to kill off the One Church of Christ. Persecutions were followed by heresies, which were followed by schisms, which were followed by apostasy, etc. Look no further than the events of the Protestant Reformation and the French Revolution. Both of these events set up the church as contrary to the world.

Today, we live in a post-reformation and post-revolutionary period where the faith has been villainized, and to be an obedient Catholic is to be seen as wholly other.

Praise God.

If we are seen as wholly other and as unacceptable to society, then we are fulfilling Our Blessed Lord’s words, and we do not belong to the world.

We will remain in the world but not be of the world.

We are not to be taken out of the world. Even if we are to live in the time of the Anti-Christ and the Great Tribulation to come, we are not meant to be taken away from it, like so many rapture enthusiasts believe. We are to do as Christ did: take up our cross, follow Him, and be contrary to this world.

It is in being contrary to this world that souls are saved. It is in defending the sanctity of marriage, life, and the true faith that those who are of the world can be converted. The Catholic life is not one comfort. It is one of greatness. We live in a time of heroic virtue. It is through that heroic virtue that the followers of Christ can become saints.

Labor in the world. Save souls. But know that you do not belong to this world. Your telos lies in the arms of Our God.

1. Cf. Luke 2:34.