13 July 2024 - Saturday of the 14th week - even-numbered year
Homily
In the last of the Beatitudes (Mt 5:10-12), Jesus declared blessed those who are persecuted for the sake of justice. Blessed are you," he said, " when people insult you, persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake. And he added, "This is how the prophets before you were persecuted. " The Gospel passage we have just read is a sort of commentary on and explanation of this beatitude.
In the passage immediately preceding the text we read today (and heard yesterday), Jesus had sent his disciples on a mission, telling them that he was sending them out like lambs in the midst of wolves. Even though he advised them to be as candid as doves but as prudent as snakes, he predicted that they would be betrayed by their loved ones, persecuted, thrown into prison; and that they would be hated as he himself is hated.
Despite all this, he said to them: "Do not be afraid! -- an expression that recurs like a refrain throughout this short text. Do not fear those who can destroy your body, but cannot harm your soul, your person. Fear only God, who can send you to hell. But he hastens to add that God is a father who cares about every detail of our lives, including, he no doubt adds with humour, the number of our hairs.
During his interrogation by Pilate, Jesus told him that he had come into this world to bear witness to the Truth (John 18:37). He called on all his disciples never to compromise with the Gospel message, to call things by their name, to say " yes " when it's " yes " and " no" when it's " no". Those who are faithful to the truth, in whatever area, pay a very high price, sometimes with their lives.
When Christianity spread during the first Christian generations, the Roman Empire, which still dominated a large part of the world, had its own state religion, to which any other religion was seen as a threat. This is why the first Christian martyrs were often put to death simply because they professed faith in Jesus and his message, and could have saved their lives by denying that faith. It was then that those who were put to death " in odio fidei " (in hatred of the faith) came to be regarded as "martyrs".
The many martyrs of the 20th century and now those of the 21st century are rarely killed explicitly in hatred of the faith. Those who kill them care nothing for the faith, not even to hate it. These martyrs die because of their fidelity to the Gospel message and its truth. They are usually killed by the powerful of this world, who are disturbed by them because they side with the little ones, the poor and the oppressed. They are disturbing either because they proclaim, or simply because they live in truth, the Gospel message of sharing goods, of respect for human dignity, of forgiveness of offences.
In our prayers today, let us carry all those who, in our day, under various types of totalitarian regimes, or in the face of our orgies of violence that respond to other violence, continue to expose themselves to persecution and even risk their lives in defence of the oppressed and in lived fidelity to the Gospel values of sharing, forgiveness and love.
Armand Veilleux