“Works” by Melanie Rigney

“Works” by Melanie Rigney 

Saturday of the Fifth Week of Easter

As they traveled from city to city, they handed on to the people for observance the decisions reached by the Apostles and presbyters in Jerusalem. Day after day, the churches grew stronger in faith and increased in number. (Acts 16:4-5)

Let all the earth cry out to God with joy. (Psalm 100:2a) 

“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.”  (John 15:18-19)

Piety

Jesus, be my armor against the world’s arrows and slings. 

Study

Seriously, who wants to be hated?

We need look no further than the martyrs included in the First Eucharistic Prayer: for starters, Lawrence, burned to death; Anastasia, beheaded; Ignatius of Antioch, thrown to wild beasts. And martyrdom isn’t something limited to those early Christians; at a 2019 general audience, Pope Francis called martyrdom “the air of the life of a Christian, of a Christian community.” 

But that doesn’t make it easy.

Few of us will face the prospect of immolation or decapitation, or destruction by animals. But make no mistake, Christians are hated, just as Jesus was. We are hated, despised, judged when we stand up for life from conception to natural death. We are hated, despised, judged when we choose not to compete for the biggest house, the best car, the most significant job title. We are hated, despised, judged when we love and care for the unlovable. 

People pityingly tell us we’re missing out on the material and positional treasures of the world. And they are right. And hard as it is sometimes, we know in our hearts and souls that those treasures are transitory. We know it is better to be shunned and misunderstood by the world because we do not strive to belong to the world—but remain in God’s love. And we believe that that trumps any hate the world can muster up.

Action

Pray for the conversion—especially if they purport to be a Christian—of someone who hates or pities you.

Image credit is Gordon Johnson via Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/vectors/love-hate-friend-enemy-human-2754243/

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