Persecution

The father of lies, Satan, hates Christians, in particular, Catholics, whose faith was started by Jesus Christ Himself. Why does he hate us so? I ask myself this question. From the time of creation, Satan tried to make himself equal with God. He tempted man from the the earliest days in the garden, promising that if he were to eat of the fruit of the tree of life, that he would be as God. And this was the beginning of the downfall of man. Here Adam committed the original sin. Here man chose to turn from everything beautiful that God had given him freely, to what he thought would be something "better" on his own. He tried to make himself into a god.

But, God promised a Savior who would earn back man's salvation - one who would free the world from the bondage caused by this first sin of man's free will. And over and over again, even to this day, man chooses to turn away from God and to make himself god over his life. This is what sin is; turning away from God; listening to man's ways, not God's ways. Satan delights in this. It brings him great comfort to see others fall into the trap of choosing other than God. He wants to see many join him in his eternal separation from the face of God. This is the height of torment.

Jesus, the promised Savior, did in fact come as promised. God's word was fulfilled, and the God-man saved mankind from the bondage of sin and reopened the gates of heaven by His death and resurrection. Since then, the followers of Jesus, Christians, have been persecuted, as He Himself foretold, and punished by the evil one, for believing in and living the Truth. And Satan himself, leads many to believe that it is righteous to persecute and even murder those who follow Christ.

I truly believe that it is Satan who is behind all the misguided false religions, in particular the radical Islamists, that attack the Catholic Christians worldwide. I believe Satan rejoices at the blood that is shed by those who are martyred for the sake of Jesus Christ. They feel when they blow themselves up in the act of killing Christians at worship, that they are martyrs for some heartless god who wants to see the death of Christians.

What they don't realize is that, since the beginning of Christianity, the true martyrs, are those whose lives are given for the sake of the name of Christ. They are the ones who refuse to give in to the false gods, the false religions that blaspheme and desecrate the holy name of Jesus. They are the ones who would stand in the way to protect Jesus' true body and blood in the Eucharist. They would suffer immeasurable pain and even death, to stand fast to their belief and love of Jesus Christ. They know that when they breathe their final breath, there is a place already prepared for them in heaven with the other saints and with God Himself. These are the brave ones. They are the martyrs. They are the ones whose actions should be remembered and shared with generations to come; not the actions of the misguided ones who follow the father of lies who can offer nothing but eternal damnation to his followers.

So when the persecution continues in this world, lift up the persecuted in your hearts. Pray for them to be brave and unwavering in their faith. Ask God to be at their sides when they suffer this wrongful torture. And pray for the strength to emulate them in your daily lives of discipleship.