“I have told you this so that you may not fall away. They will expel you from the synagogues; in fact, the hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God. They will do this because they have not known either the Father or me. I have told you this so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you.”
In today’s Gospel reading, as Jesus explains the coming of the Advocate to his disciples, he says something alarming to them: “the hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God.” The reading ends as he says that their hour is coming and that the disciples remember what Jesus told them so that they will not fall away.
God, help me understand that you prepare your disciples for the coming persecution by sending the Advocate, which gives them the courage to face those who literally want to kill them. In a figurative way, I can imagine dying to defend my faith and the truth of the Gospel, but I can’t imagine the level of faith needed to courageously face those who would kill me because of it.
Holy Family, walk with me today; walk before me and behind me and lead me in my words and actions to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Today let me remember that I might encounter those who want to kill me because of what I believe—probably not literally and on a large scale—but ideologically and in small ways. Let me remember that they will do this because, as Jesus says, “They have not known either the Father or me.” Father in heaven, give me the wisdom and courage to bring them to you.