Matthew 10: 16 – 23 (Friday, July 13, 2007)

Jesus warns his disciples ahead of time that they would be persecuted. It is never going to be a rosy life. Everyone is not going to receive the message they would preach. Even family members would rise against them. However, they should not be afraid because the Holy Spirit is going to help them in their defense.

Many times we see things going wrong in our society, we know we should speak up but sometimes we are afraid because people are going to hate us; people will say we are weird; we would be persecuted. Jesus Christ is asking us not to be afraid. We would not be the first to be persecuted, nor would we be the last. We are able to experience the Faith today because many people were willing to offer their lives for the sake of Christ. In our own generation, we too must be willing to offer our lives. If you are in the military and out of conscience you know a war is unjust, what must you do? Follow the orders or oppose it? Opposing it would amount to a lot of persecution – yet, this is what Christ calls us to do.

Today’s Gospel calls us to get away from the secular crowd and be truly the people God wants us to be. This will come with numerous persecutions but his Holy Spirit would help us face these challenges.