Daily Gospel Reflection
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November 24, 2021
Jesus said to the crowd:
“They will seize and persecute you,
they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons,
and they will have you led before kings and governors
because of my name.
It will lead to your giving testimony.
Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand,
for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking
that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.
You will even be handed over by parents,
brothers, relatives, and friends,
and they will put some of you to death.
You will be hated by all because of my name,
but not a hair on your head will be destroyed.
By your perseverance you will secure your lives.”
On first reading, today’s gospel inspires images of soldiers for Christ waging war against our enemies. I think this framing comes to mind because of our current news climate. Everyday I see no shortage of bitter political fighting ontopics from abortion to vaccines to climate change. The fighting is real, but is Jesus asking me to meet aggressors with aggression?
No.
While there is a time and place to fight, I don’t hear Jesus calling me to arms. Rather, I hear a warning not to be surprised that others might not like his radical message of love. When placed into the context of scriptures where Jesus tells us to “love our enemies” and to “turn the other cheek,” today’s reading takes on a decidedly sacrificial meaning.
My three year old son, perhaps the wisest member of our family, is just starting to process the concepts of fighting, anger, and conflict. He hears bits and pieces of news and conversation and has begun to ask us questions: “When people fight, then other people get the coronavirus?” He sometimes gets confused, but it is clear he can tell that there are things in the world to worry about.
It’s disheartening that the world’s anger and aggression spreads so far and so fast that it breaks through the otherwise blissfully unshakable world of a 3-year-old.
We should not temper our beliefs for the comfort of others, nor hide them to avoid controversy. Following Christ is not meant to be easy. However, when we advocate for our beliefs, we should do it with love. After all, the three-year-old children of our enemies are future citizens of the better world we are trying to build.
If anger and aggression are contagious, Christ’s peace can be too.
Prayer
O, Christ, our lives pattern your own. You were beaten and spat upon for loving a world unused to love. We, however, expect not to be hated by the world, but admired by it; not to be betrayed, but to succeed. Save us from the lie that your name, Jesus, will bring us only success, praise, and power. Give us the endurance to suffer because we have become such great lovers of the world that we bear you in our very bodies. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Today the Church honors 117 Christians who suffered and died for their faith in Vietnam since the seventeenth century—they stand as representatives for the hundreds of thousands who have suffered for their faith in Vietnam.
The canonized group includes 96 people who were from Vietnam and 21 missionaries from Spain and France; eight were bishops, 50 were priests, and nearly 60 were lay people.
St. Andrew Dung-Lac was a diocesan priest—he was named Dung An Tran when he was born in 1795 in North Vietnam. When he was 12, he moved to Hanoi with his family so his parents could find work. A catechist there offered him food and shelter and helped him receive an education. Dung was baptized, and chose the name Andrew—he became a catechist himself, teaching others the faith, and eventually was chosen to study for the priesthood. Andrew was ordained in 1823 and was known as an effective preacher and a model of holiness for those he served.
When the emperor began persecuting Christians, Andrew was imprisoned several times, but released when his congregation purchased his freedom. Eventually, though, Andrew was again arrested, tortured, and, finally, beheaded.
Dominican and Jesuit missionaries were the first to suffer martyrdom in Vietnam. These religious orders brought the faith to Vietnam in the seventeenth century and planted the seeds of Christianity that have grown ever since. Ever since, Christians have suffered under political regimes that suspected the faith as foreign influence.
The ruling powers forced many Christians to renounce their faith under threat of torture or execution—they were required to trample a crucifix to prove their allegiance to the state. Many hid, but the authorities rewarded those who turned in Christians, giving away large amounts of silver in return for reports of where the faithful were hiding. In return, Christians bribed those authorities to buy their safety. At one point, a third of the budget for a French missionary society was dedicated to buying safety for Catholics in Vietnam.
Christians were martyred in horrific ways in Vietnam, including St. Andrew Dung-Lac—their bodies were mutilated and some were tortured with the use of psychoactive drugs. Many were branded on the face, and whole towns known to hold Christians were wiped out.
An 1862 treaty with the French granted religious freedom to Catholics but did not stop all persecutions throughout the country. Most recently, in the last century, the Communist government tried to purge the nation of religion, and more than 600,000 Christians fled, leaving everything behind.
St. Andrew Dung-Lac and the Vietnamese Martyrs, who embraced suffering rather than renounce your faith—pray for us!