Coming Persecutions

Today's Reflections

 

                               

 

     

Coming Persecutions 

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Mt 10:16-23

[Jesus said to the Twelve,] ¹⁶“Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves. ¹⁷But beware of people, for they will hand you over to courts and scourge you in their synagogues, ¹⁸and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake as a witness before them and the pagans. ¹⁹When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say. You will be given at that moment what you are to say. ²⁰For it will not be you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. ²¹Brother will hand over brother to death, and the father his child; children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. ²²You will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved. ²³When they persecute you in one town, flee to another. Amen, I say to you, you will not finish the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.”

Reflection:

They will hand you over to courts. Forewarned is forearmed. Jesus tells his disciples-apostles of the daunting persecution that awaits them. But they are not to worry about what they have to say when they are brought before governors and kings, for the Spirit of their Father will be speaking through them. Those who persevere to the end will be saved.

Countless Christian martyrs have experienced the assistance of the Holy Spirit and have persevered to the end. Examples abound: girls like St. Agnes and maidens like St. Lucia; the martyrs of Uganda, who were all young men; our own St. Lorenzo Ruiz and St. Pedro Calungsod.

Not many of us will be brought before tribunals or will be imprisoned. But we are all called to bear witness to Christ in our society: at home, in school, in public offices—wherever our duties call us.

Let the Holy Spirit speak in you,

and be steadfast in bearing fearless witness to Christ.