Everyone will hate you because of me

Gospel text (Mt 10,16-23): Jesus said to his disciples, «Look, I send you out like sheep among wolves. You must be clever as snakes and innocent as doves. Be on your guard with respect to people, for they will hand you over to their courts and they will flog you in their synagogues. You will be brought to trial before rulers and kings because of me, and so you may witness to them and the pagans. But when you are arrested, do not worry about what you are to say and how you are to say it; when the hour comes, you will be given what you are to say. For it is not you who will speak; but it will be the Spirit of your Father in you.

»Brother will hand over brother to death, and a father his child; children will turn against parents and have them put to death. Everyone will hate you because of me, but whoever stands firm to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next. For sure, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes».

Comments

When God is offended, should we become violent?

Our God is all love and truth, who asks from us humility and forgiveness. Our God is the only living God. He has the word of eternal life. Observing the process of the current protests in the Middle East and many other places in the world by the so called followers of Islam, presumably outraged because they do not like what is being presented in a film about their prophet; it is interesting to distinguish that factual truth, about what is missing in the whole staging of these protests and it is precisely, truth, love, humility and forgiveness and it is not precisely from the ignorant mobs perpetrating the assaults under the direction of their evil leaders, but from the ones supposedly protecting the basic and fundamental freedoms we all in the western civilization which is founded in Christianity, have for granted.

Common Good

It is often found commentaries that describe common good as extremes of anarchy, as expressions that on one end present a justification for system interference and on the other as an idea of omnipotence over the people who is typically labeled as mediocre and incapable of deciding on their own about their matters and circumstances. However, common good is divine a mandate we all have as individuals; to aim for and to work towards. It is what defines the relationship between science and reason, because a science where its object is to benefit only the self or to enhance the egos of the recipients is what defies reason and so it segregates itself from faith which is what make us creatures of God with dignity, identity and individuality because care exists for our neighbor and peer. Common good cannot be taking or confiscating from some to give to others or to pretend that by robbing from the ones that have to presumably give to the have not, the issue is fairly addressed. On the contra...

He said this to test Philip, for He himself knew what He was going to do

Gospel text ( Jn 6,1-15) : Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, near Tiberias, and large crowds followed him because of the miraculous signs they saw when He healed the sick. So He went up into the hills and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Then lifting up his eyes, Jesus saw the crowds that were coming to him and said to Philip, «Where shall we buy bread so that these people may eat ?». He said this to test Philip, for He himself knew what He was going to do. Philip answered him, «Two hundred silver coins would not buy enough bread for each of them to have a piece». Then one of Jesus' disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said, «There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?». Jesus said, «Make the people sit down». There was plenty of grass there so the people, about five thousand men, sat down to rest. Jesus then took the loaves, ga...

Cesar Fernandez-Stoll

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