John 15: 18-21

In the Scripture the Lord teaches us: “Do not fear those who deprive the body of life but cannot destroy the soul.” Similar choices await us. We can opt for the pessimistic view of this world, or we can stubbornly cling to our faith-conviction that God cares and that things will turn out all right.

I always say that to be a Christian or a follower of Christ is not easy. And the Lord has said many times: “If you want to be my follower, you have to carry your cross everyday.” In the gospel today the Lord says explicitly: “If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.” Here we are warned by Jesus that the world will hate us if we follow him.

Everyday we encounter pressures to abandon our moral convictions. Christ exhorts us: Do not let men intimidate you. Meaning, don’t follow their wrong opinions, and don’t imitate their bad example.

The temptation may come when you are going through difficulty in your married life which you tried hard to remedy because you believe the Lord’s words, ‘what God has joined together, let no man put asunder.’ Perhaps you may suffer some financial loss when you refuse to cut corners in business because of your honest principles.

We may suffer the loss of our health, our job; we may see our home burned, our marriage broken up. But none of these should topple over our faith and hope that some good will come out of it; that, in some way, we will emerge from the misfortune stronger, wiser or more mature.

How true what Christ said, “If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.” But he says, “Be strong, be steadfast – I will be with you till the end of time.” Those who can stand up and bear till the end will be rewarded.