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Jesus preached in the Temple, speaking the truth, and angering some people who then plotted to harm Him.

However small, isolated, or persecuted our community may be, Christ is amongst us at Mass, as if in a chasm

However small, isolated, or persecuted our community may be, Christ is amongst us at Mass, as if in a chasm

However small, isolated, or persecuted our community may be, Christ is amongst us at Mass, as if in a chasm

Whoever curses, strikes, abandons or 'destroys' a spouse is cursing Christ in His Passion, or striking Christ with the soldiers, or abandoning Christ to His unjust sentence, or crucifying Christ on the Cross. Christ said that whatever we do to others, we do to Him.

Whoever curses, strikes, abandons or 'destroys' a spouse is cursing Christ in His Passion, or striking Christ with the soldiers, or abandoning Christ to His unjust sentence, or crucifying Christ on the Cross. Christ said that whatever we do to others, we do to Him.

Many of Christ's brave friends have suffered mockery, imprisonment and death, in order to remain faithful to the teachings of His Church, and out of love for Him.

We need to maintain an inner peace at every provocation. If we are attacked, let us remember that Christ was followed and pestered by people who were determined to annoy Him, or to trap Him into some unwise or inflammatory answer.

Christ was Present in glory, at the Consecration, radiant with Divine majesty, revealing Himself as True God, made man, Who in His humility was willing to accept persecution and death.

Christ pointed out the truth that, by my decision to enter into full Communion as a Catholic, I risked pain and persecution, for love of Him - just like many of His followers in His earthly life-time, and every era.

If we speak about the teachings of the Church, about faith and morality, we may meet with anger or indifference. It is not comfortable speaking out with a prophetic voice.

There are all sort of trials that must be faced by Christians who are trying to be faithful. This should not surprise us. Christ was not surprised by the jeering crowds who lined the streets of Jerusalem as He staggered along the road the Calvary.

God has permitted capital punishment at certain times, for grave crimes. Yet the human race has been in such a dire state of sinfulness, since the Original Sin, that in whatever era of history Christ might have come to earth to speak the truth about sin and salvation, He would have been persecuted, and then killed by whatever method was usual at the time, despite His innocence.

As Christ looks down from Heaven upon the world He sees a great light shining out. That is the Catholic Church which He founded. It is like a great light which will never go out, even if that light is sometimes dimmed. All truths that others preach are facets of the whole Body of truths (the Deposit of Faith) that the Church holds and preaches.

The very Spirit Who was with Christ in His Passion and Who raised Him up from the grave dwells - with the Father and Son - in the soul of every persecuted Christian; and each one who suffers for love of Christ should remember that whatever happens externally, that faithful soul is full of Divine Light.

As Sacred Scripture tells us, we are certain to be attacked, as followers of the Crucified Christ. Whether we suffer verbal, physical or spiritual assaults, however, Christ sees what we undergo for love for Him; and He sometimes intervenes with Divine power, to banish the attackers and to bring refreshment and peace.

Some people accuse the Church of speaking far too often and too forcefully about sexual immorality. Yet Christ wants everyone to know what is sinful, and to abandon sinful behaviour. Christ is pleased with Clergy and parents who speak truthfully about morals.

Christ our God teaches us, and helps us, through His Church; yet there are countless Catholics held back from holiness or lasting joy because of their fears: fears that, if they choose to believe and practice the Faith in its fullness, they won't be able to bear the loneliness, or persecution or ridicule, or lack of luxuries, or chastity, or the rejection of sinful pleasure; some fear God's future plans, unknown. Some fear having more children.

If we try to escape the Cross, we merely flee into darkness. No Christian can expect to escape some sort of crucifixion, whether interior desolation and trials, and the dark nights, or persecution, or the knowledge of one's own sinfulness. The only way to sanctity and Heaven is upwards, with Christ, one with Him in crucifixion followed by Resurrection even in this life, to find fulfilment and joy in His service.

People who suffer persecution or martyrdom because of their faith in Christ can feel as though they are leaving a garden of earthly delights to enter an endless tunnel of suffering. They can be assured that that tunnel opens out onto an area: not an area like the Colisseum, but a place where Christ, His Mother and all the Saints wait to greet them, and lead them into a life of Eternal bliss.