Word to the Wise
Saturday, May 13, 2023 - 5th Week of Easter - Sat
[Acts 16:1-10 and John 15:18-21]"If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you...If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. And they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me." [John]
I can remember a time when we used the expression "the world" to mean life outside of religious life. If someone left the formation program, we would say that he or she "returned to the world." But Jesus is not using "the world" to mean that. In the Gospel According to John, the "world" is those who do not believe that Jesus is the one whom God has sent. Furthermore, "the world" will be hostile to those whom Jesus has sent. Scripture scholars tell us that this reflects the resistance Christians in the community John wrote for were experiencing. They were being expelled from their synagogues. But there was resistance from other quarters as well. Periodic persecution was to be expected and still occurs in our own time. The Edict of Milan by Constantine in the 4th century gave Christianity legal status in the Roman Empire, but did not guarantee protection all the time.
In our own time and culture, when religious belief is often regarded as a matter of personal opinion, the Church's teachings on dignity of life from womb to tomb are often resisted, even with violence. Catholics can expect to be accused of trying to "impose our beliefs" on others. As Jesus says, in today's gospel: "They will do all these things to you on account of my name because they do not know the one who sent me." The task of evangelization never ends. AMEN