TO CROSS WITH JESUS: PERSECUTIONS.

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JUNE 21 2020:
Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time - A

READINGS: JER 20:10-13; PS 69:8-10, 14, 17, 33-35; ROM5:12-15; MT 10:26-33.

An Albanian proverb says, “Our crosses are hewn from different trees.” And a Zulu proverb adds, “You cannot cross a river without getting wet.”

We cannot dream of a life without trials, neither of happiness without suffering. Light has always been opposed to darkness and it is in its nature. For, when the light appears in the darkness, it reveals all that is hidden. Therefore, the darkness will always reject the light or hide from it. Persecution is a reality we cannot deny. It exists and the righteous people are laid victim of it. Just as no one can reach Heaven without the cross, so too, can’t we live a righteous life without persecution. At some extend, it seems that persecution is the aroma of holiness. Adhering to the cause of Jesus Christ and following in his footsteps means primary carrying one’s cross after him. As Christians, our vocation is to cross the tumultuous seas of this life with Christ.

Today’s liturgy opens by setting bare in front of us anguishing situations, situations of suffering, and persecutions. In the first reading, we hear the Prophet Jeremiah exposing his anguishes, weeping for the sad fate he is brought to live. Though as a prophet and righteous man he wishes good to the people, keeping faithfully what the Lord commanded him and exhorted them to come back to the Lord, he was brought to suffer hatred, rejection, and evil plots. We read him saying, “I hear the whisperings of many: ‘Terror on every side! Denounce! let us denounce him!’” Those who were laying beside him are watching for his fall. Nevertheless, a message of great hope and comfort rouses from those tears of the prophet, “the Lord is with me, like a mighty champion: my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph. In their failure, they will be put to utter shame, to lasting, unforgettable confusion.” The righteous may well be persecuted, but he will never be forsaken or forgotten by God.

That which was the fate of the Prophet Jeremiah is the fate that awaits everyone who chooses the way of righteousness, to live attached and faithful to the commandments of the Lord. You and I will be of no exception if we choose to be just and honest in a world where perversion and all kinds of corruption, both moral and material, are widespread. You will suffer fiercely and even be put to death. The Lord Jesus, nevertheless, has another word of comfort in the Gospel: “Do not fear!” It is a short sentence filled with assurance. Do not fear or fear no one, for the Lord is with you.

For sure, persecutions will come your way. But Jesus says, “Fear no one. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known.” Darkness exists, but that will be only for a time. All that is hidden or done in secret to oppress to righteous will end by coming up to the light. All the evil people plot against the righteous will one day be revealed. The only thing the Lord, however, asks of the righteous is to not be trouble up to the point of losing hope. Hope is the greatest weapon against persecution. When, while suffering, you lose hope, you have lost everything. Therefore, amid hatred and oppression, we should, like the Psalmist, sing: “I pray to you, o Lord, for the time of your favor, O God! In your great kindness answer me with your constant help.” For, God in his great mercy will always answer the prayer of the oppressed. People can lead you to suffer but be assured that God will never forsake you. You can even be put to death in their hands, and this unjustly. God will however justify you.

Actually, as Christians, we live as pilgrim people traveling from one shore (earth) to another shore (heaven). Having no boat for our journey, the only bridge through which we can cross the ocean of this world and its tumults is none other than the Cross of Christ and our own crosses, namely our trials.

St. Paul in the second reading make clear this assurance. In Christ, we all will triumph and live. If death came because of Adam’s sin, life is restored to us through Jesus who died for us all. Evil will always contend with good and oppose it. But in the end good will prevail. As we insistently read, suffering will always lay at our doors, trials and persecutions will be there. But if one sets firm his trust in Jesus, he is assured to have life safe. For, in our trials, as said Jeremiah, “the Lord is with me (us), like a mighty champion” telling each one of us, “do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows…” We have a precious price for him. Thus, in every situation, in everything we face, we should hold firmly on Christ, run with perseverance the race of life, and never deny him. As says this Spanish proverb, “he who carries it knows how much the cross weighs.” Nevertheless, never run away from your cross. Make it a bridge for the crossing.

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