Tag: <span>Persecution</span>

May 10, 2021April 23, 2021

Against the Grain

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

It would be so nice if we could follow Jesus, and also get along peacefully with the world.

And yet, He reminds us, over and over again, that this will not be the case. People will want to kill us because of Him.

Within the hour following your reading of this reflection, in fact, a Christian will be put to death because of his or her faith.

Of course, not every faithful Christian in the world is in imminent danger of death or persecution. But even in the most benign of circumstances, our faith teaches us that we must prioritize love, and this means–in one way or another–that we do not fully progress in the world as it sees progress, or benefit from everything it has to offer. Those “advantages” belong to those who set them as their first priority.

And we need to be ready for real persecution, for people to hate us viscerally for what we stand for. We cannot do else but live for eternity, rather than for peace and happiness in this world, if we want to be Jesus’ followers. He tells us as much Himself in today’s Gospel. And let us remember too, that as gloriously as the faith progresses in the first reading and indeed in all of the Acts of the Apostles, that book’s chief protagonists all died a martyr’s death at the hands of men who were too low-minded to accept the beautiful demands of the Christian faith.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Jesus doesn’t hide the trials that come with our faith. Ask Him for courage and conviction, to be willing to sacrifice all the goods of this life and this world for the goods of eternity.

Follow the Author on Twitter:
Follow @mvhaywilliams

April 21, 2021April 1, 2021

A Duality

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

From the beginning, the story of the Christian Church has been an interplay between the operation of the Holy Spirit for the transformation of the souls of believers, and persecution in various forms from those who do not want to center their lives on Christ.

In today’s first reading, that full duality plays out: A severe persecution of the Church breaks out in Jerusalem; as the disciples scatter throughout the countryside, rather than hunkering down and slowly disappearing, they bring many more to believe in Christ.

In our Christian effort to create in the world a just society in line with the principles of the Gospel, we often can become so idealistic that we forget that this duality of conversion and persecution is willed by God; it is His plan for history. We should not shy away from the persecution side of the equation, because the other side of that coin is the effectiveness of the Holy Spirit in bringing souls to Himself, as He has for all ages of the Church.

Jesus did not come with the objective of winning every single heart on earth to Himself, but rather those who would freely accept Him.

But in today’s gospel, He makes a beautiful pledge to those who do accept Him:

And this is the will of the one who sent me,
that I should not lose anything of what he gave me,
but that I should raise it on the last day.
For this is the will of my Father,
that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him
may have eternal life,
and I shall raise him on the last day.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Tell Jesus that you accept Him with your whole heart, unconditionally, and ask Him to work through you the transformation in souls that He worked through the apostles, in the midst of glorious conversions and of persecutions.

Follow the Author on Twitter:
Follow @mvhaywilliams

March 20, 2021March 3, 2021

Fish out of Water

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

The Christian life makes us behave strangely.

Ordinary people, who perceive no transcendence in their lives and who live for the glories and gratifications of this world, order their lives around what they perceive to be most beneficial to their earthly existence.

This does not automatically convert people into animals. Many of those with secular ideals consider altruism, especially toward those for whom they feel affection or compassion, as part of the scope of what makes their world a better place. Such persons can be kind, understanding, and empathetic.

But to such persons, the Christian way of life is strange. Kindness may not be strange to them, but self-sacrifice for the welfare of another is. Idealism may not be strange to them, but the notion of obedience to God is. It is very strange.

Now, it may not appear to be a difference destined to cause conflict. But when we consider how obedience to God involves things like norms of basic sexual morality and the ordering of society around them, we see how obedience can clash drastically with the earth-bound ideals of our age. And because secular culture is not tethered to any constant norm, the clash can take on different forms in different ages.

From the world’s perspective, the Christian life makes us behave strangely, and at times, the world determines that we must be thwarted from this “strange” behavior.

Today’s first reading shows the Hebrews plotting against the life of the prophet Jeremiah, and in today’s gospel, we see the Pharisees plotting against the life of Jesus. We see in Jeremiah and Jesus how the world cannot tolerate the messenger of obedience to God.

But it is also interesting to note how the temple guards are not successful in arresting Jesus. Because they find His preaching so mesmerizing and authoritative, they cannot bring themselves to carry out their original intention of seizing Him.

In this sense Christians are strange as well: Obedience to God and adoption as children of God ultimately brings about an ennobling transformation in us that even non-believers can perceive–such that their reaction may be as striking as the guards’ reaction to Jesus.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Imagine Jesus asking you, “Can you drink of the cup that I shall drink?” (cf. Mt. 10:38) He asks each of us if we are willing to suffer misunderstandings, envy, and scorn from the world. Answer Him that you know that His way leads to Calvary, and that you will not abandon Him because of it.

Follow the Author on Twitter:
Follow @mvhaywilliams

December 26, 2020December 22, 2020

The Reason for the Season

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

It may seem very puzzling that the day after we celebrate the beautiful, peaceful, consoling reality of God’s initiative to come into our world and become a human being to save us, we have the feast of the first martyr. We have a reading with a scene of violence, and a Gospel passage with a prediction of persecution–albeit together with a promise of the guiding company of the Holy Spirit.

But really, if we look beyond the moment of violence at St. Stephen’s martyrdom, what we find is the ultimate fulfillment of the entire purpose and inspiration behind God’s decision to take on flesh.

As Stephen suffered at the hands of his persecutors, he saw heaven open up before him, and saw Jesus standing at God’s right hand. As he was attacked, here lay his focus.

Stephen was reaching that exalted destiny God had won for him by taking on flesh at the Incarnation and taking that flesh to the cross.

We celebrate in this Christmas octave how Jesus has come to earth for us. But as today’s gospel points out to us, our brief life here on earth is still to be one of difficult travails. We’ve got a difficult journey ahead of us, as St. Stephen did, if we wish to reach the prize that Jesus’ Incarnation won for us. But won it for us He has; our destiny it is; and this octave of Christmas can be one of unmitigated joy as we celebrate not only the Incarnation of God that won for us this destiny, but also the anticipation of the destiny itself.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: In your Christmas meditation, look beyond the tenderness of the Nativity scene. Ask Jesus why He underwent the immense humiliation and unpleasant path of taking on human flesh. Ask Him His hopes for your destiny, against the backdrop of this feast day, wherein we celebrate St. Stephen’s attainment of his.

Follow the Author on Twitter:
Follow @mvhaywilliams

November 21, 2020November 4, 2020

Hospice Cure

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

The drama in the first reading has played out over and over and over again starting in the Old Testament and continuing right up to our day, with the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ constituting the climax, and the key to understanding its meaning.

Note the symbolic names “Sodom” and “Egypt,” “where indeed their Lord was crucified.” These represent not specific places, but the world as such. The Christian is called to be a prophet that shakes the hearts of people living in the world, who by and large are asleep to eternal realities. The world as a whole generally rejects this message throughout the ages, but some accept it and find their salvation.

Given the period of Christendom–when secular and Church leadership coincided for a time–we can think that sometimes, the world is friendly to Christianity. But if we take a closer look at Christendom, we see that worldly attitudes rejecting the heart of the radical message of Jesus reigned in the world even when Europe was nominally Christian.

Today, the increase in comfort and worldly security brought to many by technology and prosperity serves as as sort of hospice-like pain-reliever for souls on the path to eternal death. Likewise, some Church leaders are asleep to the eternal drama depicted in the first reading, complacent in the midst of the flattery of their flocks. In such a situation, how much less well received is the disturbing message of true prophets.

As Christians, we do not have the luxury to wait for our leaders to act as prophets, and complaining openly about their shortcomings is counterproductive. Like the prophets in the first reading, we must offer ourselves as living sacrifices for the conversion of sinners–giving Christ willingly and joyfully every suffering that comes our way, believing wholeheartedly in the effectiveness of our gift through Him. And, we must listen to the Holy Spirit and follow His call when He asks us to be vocal signs of contradiction in our world.

To this end, we have the aid of the saints. In the gospel, Jesus reminds us that God speaks of all His followers in the present tense: The saints are very much alive and active. Only a thin veil separates us. Let us call out to them, our teammates in advancing the cause of Christ’s redemption, confident of the effectiveness of their aid.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Consider today’s world from the perspective of its sleepiness relative to the drama of eternity. Think of Jesus’ words relative to today’s world: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!” (Lk. 12:49) Ask Jesus what His vision is for waking up the world, for setting it ablaze, and ask Him what part He would like you to play.

Follow the Author on Twitter:
Follow @mvhaywilliams

October 22, 2020September 29, 2020

Not Peace but a Sword

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

Why did Jesus, per today’s Gospel passage, come to create division and set family members against each other? This doesn’t sound very Christian. At least, not in the Ned Flanders brand of Christianity, the ding-dong-diddly let’s-all-be-friendly kind of way.

If we wish to follow Christ, we have to stomach today’s gospel.

Christianity creates division not just because its moral code is tough to follow, or because of belief in difficult things like the Trinity and the Eucharist. Christianity causes division, often bitter division, because it invites us to a radical transformation of our nature through intimate participation in the divinity. This transformation is difficult and painful, and, Christianity tells us, necessary for our happiness. Many consciously decline to pursue the path of Christianity because it involves radical and difficult transformation, and the awareness–perhaps subconscious–that happiness is not possible without that transformation causes bitterness.

So, it is an empirically observable phenomenon that many who choose not to follow the path of Christ are bitter toward those who do.

It is in this sense that Christ has come to cause division–only in the sense that the exaltation and glory, and associated transformation, that He offers us in association with salvation is so very radical.

But it is in this same glorious transformation that St. Paul exalts in the first reading: “That you, rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones
what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Meditate on the crucifix, the price your salvation cost Jesus, and consider the how great the glories described in the first reading must be in light of that cost. In full knowledge that the transformation Jesus wishes to perform within you is radical, and that it involves sharing His cross and suffering, tell Him that you choose Him unconditionally, forever, and ask Him for the grace and strength to stay faithful to Him.

Follow the Author on Twitter:
Follow @mvhaywilliams