Dear Fathers, Friends in Christ,
Acts 16:1-10
Psalm 100:1b-2, 3, 5
John 15:18-21
"Everyone's doing it," says the teenager begging his or her parent for a special permission. In the young adult's eyes, the "measuring stick" for morality is based on numbers and they do not want to be different from everyone else. Even some adults get caught up in this thinking. A "mid-life crisis" can do strange things to a person's usual rational train of thought. A person might be tempted to go with the crowd. As a Christian, we are in the world, but not of the world.
Christ warns us in the gospel today (John 15: 20), that because He has chosen us out of the world, and because we do not belong to the world, we will experience hatred. This is not a remote topic, as one has only to follow the daily news to realize that Christians in some parts of the world are being arrested, tortured and sometimes killed because of their faith. In everyday school and employment settings, people might be shunned or bullied because of their religious beliefs and practices. What are we to do?
We have assurance from Christ that He went through the same thing, even to the point of death. We know that Christ is always with us and gives us the graces we need to stand firm as Christians in our beliefs and actions. Christ also said that "they will do all these things to you . . . because they do not know the One who sent Me." (John 15:21)
Let this serve as a challenge to us to serve as role-model Christians, and to teach at least by example, if we do not also do some formal teaching with youth or adults in our own parishes.
Wishing you a blessed Sunday,
Father Ed Bakker
Anglican Catholic Church / Original Province
Mission of Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne
Bendigo
Australia
