I just re-read Acts 4 where St. Peter and the others were hauled before the Court and ordered to stop preaching about Jesus. You know the story. The apostles refused to capitulate, and answered, "We must obey God instead of men."
Then I thought of Jeremiah 12:5 in which God challenges the Prophet: If running against men has wearied you, how will you race against horses? And if in a land of peace you fall headlong, what will you do in the thickets of the Jordan?
And then the Holy Spirit brought me back to 2009 and connected the dots: If Catholics do not speak boldly about the moral issues facing us for fear of losing the Church's tax-exempt status, or of offending some politicians, or of incurring the wrath of the media, or even of offending some of it's own members . . . then what will we do when it becomes illegal to even tell others about Jesus?
If we fail Christ now, what will we do then?
St. Paul said it a long time ago, and our Church martyrs understood very well the implication: All who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution (2 Timothy 3:12). And the words of Christ ought to make us shudder: For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." (Mark 8:38).
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