Three individuals came to mind as I read today’s gospel. The first is a married woman, distressed because her husband left the Catholic Church for an anti-Catholic sect which is pressuring her to join too.
The second is a recent high school graduate preparing for college. She’s concerned that her faith will be challenged on campus through peer pressure, ideas and philosophies she’ll encounter in class, and a culture sometimes hostile to her religion.
An elderly Chinese bishop is the third person. He was recently featured in National Geographic, and he recalled years of government persecution of the Catholic Church in his native land.
On account of their Catholicism, all three experience opposition- from family, society, governments, other religious groups. Just as Jesus said the twelve apostles would face. His words to them in today’s gospel are words which are just as true for us today, because we too encounter resistance to our faith.
In a nutshell, what Jesus says to us is: don’t be surprised when it happens; trust in the Spirit when it does; be shrewd but simple; and persevere throughout it all. If we do, chances are we’ll find our faith is stronger in the end. The Chinese bishop, who is witnessing a Church renewal in his country, knows this well. “The more the suppression,” he said, “the more the rebound.”
Readings for today’s Mass: http://www.usccb.org/nab/070811.shtml
Photo Credit: Sean MacEntee via Creative Commons
Looking back on my encounters with opinions of people I’ve known who many thought were destined for success, or not, but who ended up defying predictions by doing the other I have something of an opinion.
The ones who were expected to succeed but didn’t often seemed polished, calm and led an almost unhumanly near perfect life.
The ones who were expected by most to fail in life but rose like the cream seemed chaotic and confused at times and I think that they may have been more willing to explore emotionally uncomfortable areas.
Who dared to more today than they did yesterday?
Kind of sort of.