The Lord tells his followers today that he sends us out as
sheep amidst wolves, urging us to be prepared for the hostility we will
inevitably face as his disciples.
I think of those Christians of the first few centuries. The Church underwent open and
state-sanctioned persecution longer than America has been a country. The early Christians could not build Churches
and had to gather for Mass in secret. For
professing the Christian faith they were arrested, beaten, and tortured in
unspeakable ways. Sometimes they were
even betrayed by close family members.
Some, became so frightened of the wolves, that they gave up
the faith, left the flock, and began to run with the wolves.
Jesus gives that strong warning because the threat is
serious.
In an age of growing hostility we know that many people do
not agree with Our Lord and his Church.
They laughed at him, mocked him, thought he was naïve, thought he was
blasphemous, and they do the same to us.
They worked to prevent him from spreading His Gospel, they do the same
to us. We are not to be surprised or
give up hope when they hate us for teaching in His name.
The Lord says, “so be shrewd as serpents and simple as
doves.” Be shrewd, in other words be sharp,
cunning, wise, crafty, and be simple, in other words be single-minded, pure,
innocent, unpretentious. We’re not to be
pushovers when we’re opposed for spreading the Gospel and we’re not to be
two-faced—we’re not to be secret Christians, keeping our faith to
ourselves.
“When they hand you over, do not worry what you are to speak
or say” the Lord tells us. Jesus promises us that when the hour of trial
comes, the Spirit of God will uplift us, teaching us what to say. Yes, he sends us out as sheep amidst the
wolves, but he doesn’t send us out alone.
May we learn to trust him today, that he is with us,
teaching others through us, using us as instruments to draw others to himself,
for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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