“The persecution of religion in America has begun, with the Catholic Church a prime target. . .[T]the persecution of religion in the United States . . . will be a tight-lipped campaign of secularist inspiration in which the coercive power of the state is brought to bear on church-related institutions to act against conscience or go out of business.”-Russell Shaw “Guess who is prime target of religious persecution in the United States?” Our Sunday Visitor, Oct 17, 2011

Fr. Robert J Carr is the editor of this blog

The words of St. Paul to the Thessalonians in today’s first reading, maybe words that we need to hear as well. As you see from the quote above, Mr. Shaw declared that religious persecution against Catholics has begun in the United States. Honestly, Mr. Shaw needs to know that the persecution which has been a part of US History began forcefully again at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston in 2002 in Boston. However that is a story for another homily.

That said, we can look at our second reading and see that the Thessalonian Christians also were suffering from a severe persecution. Remember, this is the beginning of Christianity. Paul is preaching to the Greek Christians for the first time in the middle of the First Century A.D. There is a small group of Christians who are surrounded by the non-Christians who reject them. Paul is encouraging the believers. They are living their faith in a way that it resounds through the land.

To understand this for our time, we need to understand something. I have addressed it before, somewhat, but I need to address it again. I believe the Holy Spirit is leading the Church into a revolution of sorts in which we are changing not our teaching, but our understanding of the faith. Indeed, the Pope has warned that what may be in store for us is exactly a deeper faith caused by the force taking away of our distractions. “Secularizing trends — whether by expropriation of Church goods or elimination of privileges or the like — have always meant a profound liberation of the Church from forms of worldliness, for in the process she has set aside her worldly wealth and has once again completely embraced her worldly poverty,” he said according to the National Catholic Register.

It is this reality that St. Paul is talking about to the People of Thessalonika. These are people that turned from paganism to embrace this new religion called Christianity. They are not accepted by their fellow countrymen because of embracing their faith. Remember, this leads them to a new way of living separated from the Pagans whom they once where and from the Jews who reject the new branch of this faith. They made a radical change from their former ways of life, and this is challenging the culture around them on every level. This is why they are being persecuted. It is a radical challenge to the culture in this First Century AD. Further, they embraced their faith fully in such a way that it is resounding through the land.

This leads us to ask the question “how is it they we must live the faith?” The challenges of their time will be different than ours, but we do undergo some serious challenges in our time and they will increase. It will come

to the point that we will have to choose our Catholic faith, or our American way of life, we will not be able to do both. That is because in the interest of a secular form of equality anything in our faith that is separate from secular standards will be legislated out of our American way of life. Case in point: Also according to Russell Shaw attorneys in front of the US Supreme Court said that they could force the Catholic Church to ordain women if they wanted to, shades of China.

But look carefully at what St. Paul is praising. He is not only praising that they are living their faith, but they are doing so in such a way that the word is spreading throughout the land of their faithfulness to God. This kind of faith is not just an obedience to a moral code. Truth be told, the moral code of both the Jews and the Pagans was quite strong. Clearly, both groups would be offended by today’s lack of a moral code. It is deeper than that. It is a community that embraces Christ in its midst and becomes rooted deeply in this same Christ. They found a transformational relationship with Christ and now not only life a new life, but embrace it joyfully. It is a whole new way of thinking. It is the spirit of the Prologue of John that excitedly calls out in excited tones of this whole new way of understanding the reality around us. It is a powerful truth that even exceeds the wonders taught by the Greek Philosophers studied at this time in Thessonlika. This truth transform the lives of every member of the community as they come together and celebrate the word and the Eucharist and probably go home and discuss new insights they have as they discover every day this powerful truth

Remember, this is the same St. Paul who teaches us that embracing Christ leads us to the fruits of the Holy Spirit: Peace, love, joy, patience, kindness, generosity and self-control and I am sure that they many within the community are expressing those fruits in a way that leads others seeking to be among them. This is what defines our faith. Our moral code leads us deeper to those fruits, but only if we are in deep relationship with Christ. This is our call.

Remember, praise of God is our strength. Mr Shaw warns of a coming persecution that in reality is already here. But, as the Pope says, this will lead to a deeper understanding of our faith. The more we embrace that deeper understanding, the more others are left scratching their heads at how we can praise the Lord when others are trying to silence us. Meanwhile, it may be time for us to revisit the book of Maccabees, for this same tactic that Mr. Shaw warns of has been tried before with the Jews, and the Jews won. So it will be with us. We can take the lesson of the Thessalonians and use it to grow in our faith. Let us pray tonight and every  night that we may grow to be more faithful tomorrow than we were today. So that we can be the saints we are called to be living our  faith in a way that resounds through the land.

God Bless You,

Fr. Robert J Carr

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