Hated by the World

Over the weekend, while on a retreat, the director giving the talks made a statement that I’ve been thinking about since.  She shared that many people have reduced Christianity to “having good table manners and being nice and good.”  But Jesus was radical and He reminds us several times in scripture that we will be hated by the world because of Him.  As followers of Christ do we truly understand this reality?

As Christians and Catholics, we absolutely should be kind, polite, and compassionate.  But being these things does not mean that we withhold the truth or water down the faith.  We see this all the time.  People often use Jesus and Christianity to justify sin, to promote a certain agenda, and to accept any and all behaviors, even if it’s contrary to the faith.  Many have reduced Christianity to warm and fluffy feelings.  It seems that many people often want to be seen as tolerant and accepting rather than known for sharing the truth.  As Christians we need to ask ourselves, are we willing to say the hard things?

We need to learn what Jesus taught and what the Church teaches and we have to live it.  This is not a popular thing to do.  But who do we want to serve, Jesus or the world?  When we share the truth, we must do it with love.  And even when we do that, the world will not recognize it as love and will reject us and the truth.  But we must continue on.

To truly follow Christ and live by the teachings of the Catholic Church is countercultural.  It goes against what the majority says, what the media says, what many people around us say, and what the world says.  But we must not live to seek the approval of the world because if we follow the Truth, the world will never approve of us.

Jesus tells us that we will be hated by the world if we follow Him.  We need to use the feelings and pain of rejection to strengthen our faith and beliefs.  We need to allow it to deepen our commitment to living for Christ and His Church.  And we must not cave to the social pressures to go with the flow.  My prayer for each of us is that we would always cling to Christ and our faith and be strengthened in our commitment to the Truth always, even in the midst of a culture that rejects us.