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It is hard to bear criticism for doing right, or persecution, personal abuse or slander. But if we bear it in patience, with peaceful words and peaceful hearts, we please Christ, Who has power to give us whatever help He wishes. He has power, too, over our persecutors, even when He has given them the freedom to do good or evil.

We must pray for those who condemn us when we are innocent. When people are habitually uncharitable, and fail to assume the best about people or to forgive errors or misunderstandings, it is as though they are wearing cracked spectacles which give a distorted picture of every person they meet, and every situation. What they need is not explanations but conversion.

Whenever we pray for the Church, aware that she is attacked by her enemies both within the Church as well as outside, we must remember that whenever she has entered a period of apparent darkness - like a train entering a tunnel - she has always come out of it again, into a new era of fulfilment and joy. This has happened time and time again, for two thousand years.

It is part of being faithful to Christ: expecting ourselves sometimes to be mocked or betrayed, since even He suffered scorn and betrayal in His life-time. But our suffering is not fruitless, if we offer it up, in union with Him.

We are sometimes humiliated, slandered or ignored, because of our Christian faith. In His Passion, Christ set us an example. He kept silent, as an example for His friends to follow, as He accepted the Will of the Father, to fulfill the Father's plan of salvation. He had confidence in the Father's love, and the Father's power to save Him.

There are times when we must make protests, for the sake of justice, but in most of our unavoidable sufferings we can look to Jesus in His Passion, for an example. He was mocked and assaulted, but did not respond with curses or self-pity. He trusted in His Heavenly Father, and kept silent. Out of love for us, He was willing to go through death in order to conquer death, and to give us the hope of Eternal Life.

We are sometimes humiliated, slandered or ignored, because of our Christian faith. In His Passion, Christ set us an example. He kept silent, as an example for His friends to follow, as He accepted the Will of the Father, to fulfill the Father's plan of salvation. He had confidence in the Father's love, and the Father's power to save Him.

The Lord sees all the injustice on the earth, including the refusal to allow women to step outside their homes, the unjust imprisonment of those who campaign for free speech, and the cruel persecution of Christians, and the destruction of their churches. The world would be a better place if everyone kept the Ten Commandments.

Saint Paul warned us that the faithful are 'certain to be attacked'. This harm can be emotional, spiritual or intellectual instead of physical; but we can be wise and prudent as well as patient and uncharitable. It is not wrong to avoid the trouble caused by those who are simply malicious, or unpredictable and unwilling to respond to kindness or to listen to reason.

Christ knows about the sufferings of those who endure physical, psychological or emotional torment because of their faithfulness to Him. He understands when we sometimes feel as though we cannot bear another rejection, or day of isolation or insults. He does not blame us for our apprehension, but admires our courage.

At every Mass, we can remember our spiritual Communion, through Christ, with those Catholics who languish in jails, in countries in which the faithful are despised and persecuted. What a marvel is our union with others, in the 'Communion of Saints', stemming from our Baptism, and how powerfully we can help one another, through Christ, by our prayers.

These are difficult times for Catholics; yet in our day, in Europe, we have not yet had to remain hidden away, fleeing to underground passages, like the first Christians in the catacombs. But we can learn from their example. What devotion to Christ - and to Mary, when, at the end of persecutions, they built a great basilica to celebrate the Faith, for the glory of God!

Some people fall away if their comforts and consolations are removed. Those whose faith is real will not allow anything, or any circumstances, to damage it, whether opposition, temptation, or ejection from their churches, homes, land or families; they will keep the light of Christ burning in their souls and lives, and show out His love and light in all they say and do, until they reach Heaven.

It might seem as if a viper has leaped out from his lair, to wound us. If we work for Christ, spreading the Gospel, we are going to be opposed, by people on earth and by Satan. We are wise if we recognise the truth, that harsh words or actions which cause us to suffer are caused by people acting from their sinful nature, as we sometimes do; so we forgive them, and turn to God for the courage to go on.

There are Christians in other countries whose lives seem to be as desolate and hopeless as an icy, snow-covered field. Yet we can bring hope to them, open doors in their lives, and ease heavy burdens, by the intercessions we offer with confidence, to God our Father, in the name of Christ, His beloved Son.

How ungrateful many Catholics are, for Christ's saving Work. If we ever fail to go to Mass because we can't be bothered to plan our travel, or organise our meals or our children, we would do well to reflect on the sufferings of our fellow-Catholics in far-off countries, who would walk miles to attend Mass, if they could, but who are often kept away, or imprisoned, or worse, by their enemies.

Only by the grace of God can we persevere in grace. We should give thanks to God, and take no pride in our success, whenever we manage to endure a distressing or painful episode, or a time of persecution, without becoming resentful, envious, or full of self-pity or gloom. It is as though we have forded a dangerous river, with our soul held high above our head.

We need not be surprised if enemies of the Church shout out their opposition to her on seeing the Pope, for example, as he pays a visit to another country. Even the Head of the Church, Jesus Christ, experienced opposition, mockery, and worse. But we must keep the Pope and all the Clergy - and the whole Church - in our prayers.

In every age, since the time of the Apostles, priests have faced opposition and persecution as they have gone about their work. It is important that they are faithful to preaching the truth - the Faith in its entirety - and faithful to the Mass. That is his task: to teach the faithful how to lead good lives and prepare for Heaven, and to feed the faithful with Jesus Christ's Sacred Body and Blood: to transform them.

The Church in every age meets mockery and persecution; and she prays to Heaven for help and is always answered. God sends star-bursts of light, which are persons and movements which show out truth and love, renewing the Church, bringing new hope to the weak and consolation to the faithful.