Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 10,17-22
Jesus said to His disciples: “Beware of men, for they will hand you over to courts and scourge you in their synagogues,
and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake as a witness before them and the pagans.
When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say. You will be given at that moment what you are to say.
For it will not be you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
Brother will hand over brother to death, and the father his child; children will rise up against parents and have them put to death.
You will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved.”
Persecution is part of life
1) Be careful. Yes, I know you should trust people, but you also have to be careful because not everyone wants what’s best for you. Envy can destroy people. There can be envious people in your workplace, your family, even in the church… Today Jesus invites you to be careful, to be wary of others. He wants you to learn to discern who is with you and who is against you, because many of those who stick with you in good times, will later turn against you in the bad times. Seek God and follow the path that leads to commitment to God and others. Act with caution and prudence. From my experience, here is my recommendation: don’t talk too much about your personal achievements. Some people will be happy for you, but others will be envious.
2) Testimony. As a Christian you are called to be a witness. To testify with your life. Look at the first martyrs, they risked their lives and willingly faced the consequences at all times; take St Stephen, for example. This doesn’t mean you should become “Rambo” and put yourself at risk unnecessarily, but you should become aware of the fact that we are called to bear witness to Christ. We are able to do this with the strength that the Holy Spirit gives us through prayer. Learn to show Christ to others. Do not brag about your position or title. Use your life to give testimony.
3) Persevere. Come on! Be patient – This is a process – Life is a process – and in every process there are times when you move quickly toward your goals, and other times when you slow down. But the idea is to keep moving forward. He who perseveres keeps going, keeps a constant rhythm… It’s like when you go running: you don’t want to go too slowly and get stuck in one place, nor do you want to run too quickly at first so that you give up because you’re exhausted; you should try to keep a steady pace. Let me ask you: are you stuck in one place in your life today? Have you been turning around the same problems, over and over in your head? Have you been complaining about the same things for quite a while? Or are you moving forward? Come on! Life is a journey! Let’s GO! Because Heaven is our goal!
God bless you in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
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