Jesus spoke today of the trials his followers are likely to endure, as they work for the spread of the Gospel. Like Jesus himself, his followers will be “handed over” and suffer persecution by religious authorities and civil authorities. The early Christians certainly suffered at the hands of religious authorities: St. Stephen the Deacon was put to death by stoning at the hands of religious authorities. For the first three hundred years, Christians suffered severe persecution at the hands of the Roman government, by Roman provincial rulers like King Herod Agrippa, and the Roman Emperors, like Nero and Diocletian.
St. Clement, one of the saints we honor today was an early successor of St. Peter as Bishop of Rome, likely the 4th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church; he was ordained a priest by St. Peter himself.
It is said that St. Clement converted many high-ranking citizens of Rome, and because Emperor Trajan saw Clement as a rival to his power, had Clement exiled to Crimea. While in exile, he performed many miracles and converted several thousands to Christianity. Learning of this, Trajan condemned Clement to death by drowning into the sea with a marble anchor.
He is often represented as having a marble anchor by his side—an anchor as a symbol of Christian hope…that amidst the persecution, sufferings, and trials of life, we hope that what we suffer will bear fruit in eternal life. He is also the patron saint of marble-workers.
Like so many powerful men who came before and would come after, the Emperor Trajan saw the Pope as a rival to his power, and so the powerful often hate the Church because they think the Church wants earthly power. But they are confused. The Church seeks the salvation of men and preaches the truth of the Gospel no matter who is in power.
Jesus says in the Gospel “you will be hated by all because of my name”. And we know that up and down the centuries the Church has been ridiculed and misunderstood. In our own day, with so many attacks on religious liberty, anti-Catholicism in the media, attacks on the Catholic intellectual tradition in modern universities, we don’t have to look very far for proof of Jesus’ words.
Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen said that there aren’t 10 people in the world who hate the Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they think the Church is.”
Similarly, with Blessed Miguel Augustin Pro, also honored today; the martyred Jesuit novice of Mexico; because the Church was so hated in Mexico in the 20th Century; Father Miguel would clandestinely go about celebrating Mass, hearing confession, anointing the sick, comforting the poor. For this, he was arrested and killed by firing squad.
Saint John Paul II traveled to Mexico for Pro's beatification in Mexico on September 25, 1988, and said:
“Neither suffering nor serious illness, neither the exhausting ministerial activity, frequently carried out in difficult and dangerous circumstances, could stifle the radiating and contagious joy which he brought to his life for Christ and which nothing could take away. Indeed, the deepest root of self-sacrificing surrender for the lowly was his passionate love for Jesus Christ and his ardent desire to be conformed to him, even unto death.”
What enables us to endure the suffering, the hatred of the world for the sake of the Gospel? A passionate love for Jesus Christ! May that love fill our hearts and spurn us on in service of the Gospel for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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