And “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven!”

Today at Holy Mass we hear in St John’s Gospel that the debates between Jesus and the religious elite of his day are starting to escalated……”The Jews picked up rocks to stone Jesus. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of these are you trying to stone me?”………Why would these men want to kill Jesus? - The answer - They refused to change - Jesus threatened their status and power and they would not tolerate that!……..How about us today? - Are we willing to change? - Are there “things” that we hold out to be more important than our Catholic faith? - Behaviors and ideologies we refuse to “put down”?……As Catholics if we live our faith as the Church clearly lays out - We will have enemies in this world - There is no getting around that reality - Are you “ok” with that?…..Do you have an enemies? - Because if you do not, maybe you are not living as God called you too - Think about it……This world does not and probably will not ever comport with an authentic Catholic world view…We are in a sense “strangers in a strange land”….Our job as Catholics is to “be in the world but not of it” - To be a witness - To show people the way forward by our life’s choices and example…..And in the process expect resistance and to some degree persecution…..How do I know this? - Jesus says so - “Remember the word I spoke to you, ‘No slave is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you”…And when this persecution comes - And it will - Do you accept it? - Do you rail against it? - Do you lash-out against it?…..The Prophet Isaiah tells us how Jesus accepted this persecution for speaking and living the Truth….”Though harshly treated, he submitted and did not open his mouth; Like a lamb led to slaughter or a sheep silent before shearers, he did not open his mouth”…….The Catholic Church extends a friendly hand to all - But the sadly reality is - Many will not take that “hand” and some will outright  “slap the hand away”….Our job is to remain steadfast - Anchored in Truth - Confident in the victory, which Christ won on the Cross - Propelled forward by love…..”Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you [falsely] because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you”….Are you willing to “drink of the cup of suffering” which the Lord drank? - “No slave is greater than his master”

“In my distress I called upon the LORD and cried out to my God; From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears”

In the end, the Truth always wins the day!…But before the Truth wins out - The Truth suffers….This is reality and if we are students of history, we can read how this trend repeats itself over and over again…..A few years ago a famous and outspoken priest in America was being persecuted…..Father John was not afraid to speak the Gospel Truth from the pulpit and the everyone seemed to attack him for it….Sadly, this persecution led Fr John to leave the priesthood……When I heard about Fr John leaving his ministry, I was very upset….At the time I was very active with the Missionaries of Charity in New York City and I told what happened to Fr John to a very old and holy nun - Sister Carmel…What she said to me I will always remember……”Fr John in the midst of his persecution should no longer try to defend himself - God will defend him”…Interesting!!!!……….As a man, this is a hard concept to embrace…Men want to “address” issues head on…..But what Sister Carmel said is true…If we are on the side of Truth - In time - God will ALWAYS defend us…We see this again in the life of the saints….Padre Pio during his ministry in Southern Italy, when the news spread about him having the stigmata, some people within the Church thought he was a fraud - And because of this, the Vatican investigated his stigmata - This investigation took ten years and during that time Padre Pio could not preside over the Mass publicly nor could he receive people in the Confessional…Padre Pio did not do anything wrong! - And over that ten years period - He greatly suffered because of his inability to preside over the Mass and hear the Confessions of his people - But he accepted “the cup” of suffering in obedience and in time, the Vatican ruled in his favor….God defended him!….What should that tell us when we live and speak the fullness of Truth in the public square? - God will defend us too!

“My God, my rock of refuge, my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold!”

When we read today’s Gospel from Mass we can easily think that persecution was just reserved for Jesus…That somehow we will not experience any forms of persecution today as Catholics living in the 21st Century….Sadly, times have not changed that much since the days Jesus walked the earth….To this day Catholics around the world are killed for their faith…And in America, even if we are not physically assaulted because of our Catholic faith, persecution takes different forms….We are rejected by some friends and family - We can be ostracized in our community - We many be limited in certain professional fields….We will be insulted privately and publicly - Thought to be “out of touch” with reality….Thought to be “crazy” for following what the Church teaches…..As American Catholics we must accept this as reality - Why? - Because it is reality!…….”Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him”…..When Jesus was confronted by Pontius Pilate…..The exchange between these two men is very telling….Pontius Pilate asks Jesus - If he was a King?….The response Jesus gives to him should be the same response we should give to the world…….“My kingdom does not belong to this world”……So here is the question - Do you live as if your “Kingdom” is of this world? - Because if we do - We will “go along to get along” - And that is not the path that leads to eternal life nor is that the path of Jesus Christ…..So accept whatever persecution that comes as a result of your Catholic faith - And “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven!”…….JMJ