Gospel Reading: Mt 10:17-22
Jesus said to his disciples: “Beware of men, for they will hand you over to courts and scourge you in their synagogues, and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake as a witness before them and the pagans. When 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. For it will not be you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will hand over brother to death, and the father his child; children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved.”
REFLECTION
WHOEVER ENDURES TO THE END WILL BE SAVED
It is not fashionable to follow Christ. We have to pay a high price. In religiously doing our tasks as Christians, someone out there whom we do not know may be taking offense at us and trying to eliminate us. So Jesus says, “Beware” of this kind of people. Since we may be disturbing the social order or spiritual serenity of pious people, because we offer a different value system or paradigm that convulses them, they may bring legal cases against us and humiliate us in public. We may be punished as scapegoats for the failures of civil and spiritual authorities. When these happen, we are assured that the Spirit of the Father will speak through us. We should cling to our faith in Christ even if our loved ones are discrediting us because they find our beliefs outrageous. Jesus exhorts us Christians to stand firm as his disciples. They hate us because they hate Jesus in the first place. If we do not compromise him or give him up for the sake of comfort and selfpreservation, we will be saved.
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How often do you compromise Christ to avoid trouble or to be “in” with a perverted group that gives you a little comfort but feeds on corruption and crime?
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SOURCE: “366 Days with the Lord,” ST PAULS, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 895-9701; Fax 895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.