Love is stronger than hatred

He who has decided to follow Jesus must often be convinced that love is persecuted by hatred. It is the sad consequence of inherited sin. People who hate God also hate those who try to live for God with love. Therefore, it is not uncommon for a man to repay herself for love and goodness with hatred.

Today’s gospel also speaks on this subject. The Lord Jesus wants to draw the attention of his darlings to something great. This means the apostles and all his brothers and sisters to the end of the world, who in their lives carry out his command of love. Jesus said to his disciples, “If the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you” (Jn 15:18). And it will immediately explain why this hatred is: but because ye are not of the world, because I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you ”(Jn 15:19).

These words belong to the second part of the farewell speech of the Lord Jesus at the Last Supper. And in particular, a disharmonious tone crept into the message of love, preparing him to prepare his apostles for the fact that although they will try to sow love around them, they will gather the hatred of the world for this effort because not everyone has a leader in Jesus. Those who do not hate Jesus, and because his disciples belong to Christ, will be overtaken by a wave of hatred as Christ himself. Apart from the fact that Jesus chose them from the world, that is, from the power of evil, they no longer belong to the world, and the world can take revenge for this because the world loves only what belongs to it, which does not transcend its boundaries, principles, and way of life.
Therefore, the world’s revenge for friendship with Jesus is most often manifested in the persecution of Jesus’ disciples. Jesus warns them of this and at the same time wants to please them, to encourage them that the world has repaid himself to him in this way. At these words, the apostles begin to realize the union, the bondage with Christ, that they will have to suffer from Christ and know the joy of the success they will receive in spreading the gospel of Jesus. Because many people accept faith and believe in the Lord Jesus, the number of Christians will increase.

Similarly, we must consider that we will not avoid the hatred of the world because of Jesus’ teaching. Therefore, we must reckon with the world’s injustice, we will experience humiliation, and we must even reckon with persecution for Christ. All this is a tax that a Christian pays for his obedience and fidelity to Christ. We must come to terms with this and not look for an escape route.

We realize that when there are confrontations with evil in our lives, this is also necessary for the Christian life. The Church’s history tells us of a myriad of those whose worlds hated and had to lay down their lives for God.

After all, at this time, we remember St. Stanislav, Bishop of Kraków, whom the king has executed as an uncomfortable man. We remember Pope Martin I, who leads the Church in difficult times, Peter’s boat. Although he had to sacrifice his own life, he did not betray. We remember Juraj, who as a soldier and commander can consider a senior officer, so he prefers martyrdom.

However, not everyone died a martyr’s death. We have a long line of believers: Dominik Savio dies young, but the day’s motto when he was on the first st. Communion, he kept: Better to die than to sin. The bishop of Athanasius often had to face a joke, and yet he won. He remained faithful to Christ, even though he had to live in a cemetery for a few months and so on … They are an example for us not to lose peace in trouble, to persevere faithfully in our duties. He who endures to the end wins.

Let us not be afraid when the world will hate us for Christ. Because then we are to thank the Lord Jesus for recognizing us as worthy to bear witness to his teachings – LOVE