You will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved

 

Scripture readings for today's reflection can be found at Memorial of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, Virgin | USCCB

Being a follower of Jesus Christ is not an easy thing to do. In our gospel today we hear of the problems we will face in being true to our call as followers of Jesus Christ. Some of the things our Lord is telling us in today’s gospel doesn’t sound appealing. It may even cause some to have 2^nd thoughts in their commitment to Jesus Christ.

Our Lord goes on to tell us that he is sending us out like “sheep in the midst of wolves…” Sounds scary to me, but our Lord encourages us to be as “shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.” In other words, we have to be aware of our calling to follow Jesus, while at the same time live out our lives in the peace and love as His followers.

Jesus goes on to say that people will bring us to courts or have us scourged just for being His followers. This applies to our own time as well. Being a follower of Jesus Christ is counter to everything that is going on in our world. The Lord Jesus Christ, all throughout His ministry, has always taught us to love God and to love our neighbors. We are in a society that rejects God. Further, people today only love themselves. We’re living in a society that has become very much self-centered and hateful of anything that has to do with being obedient to the commandments of God. Love of God and love of neighbor seem to have no place today.

Our Lord goes on to predict that families will be at odds with each other just because we choose to be obedient to Jesus. This just doesn’t fit into what others in our family may think or believe. We are called to be examples of what it means to be a Christian to those in our families that may not understand our love and devotion to Jesus Christ.

In response to our society and those in our family who reject belief in God, we are called to be that example of what it means to be a true Christian and to be patient with those who will attack us for our beliefs. We are to not only surrender our lives to Jesus out of love for Him, but we are called to pray for those in our lives that reject Him and His love for them. That is how we are called to bring change into the world: through remaining faithful to our faith in Jesus Christ, and by praying for all those who are away from God’s love to come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior.