The last few Sunday readings, the recent celebration of St. Agatha’s feast and (of all things) the Super Bowl have gotten me thinking about bravery in the modern day.
In some ways, I think it was easier ‘back in the day’. Either you were willing to be publicly shamed, tortured and killed for the truth, or you weren’t. Look at Jesus’ proclamation of ‘Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your presence’. That was the start of His eventual persecution, ridicule and crucifixion – and there can’t be any doubt that He knew that when He got up to make that pronouncement.
St. Agatha too, went through a fairly straightforward persecution. After dedicating herself spiritually and physically to God, an interested & wealthy man made it his mission to make her give that up. She wouldn’t, and was forced into work at a brothel, then sent to prison before being tortured and eventually killed.
What makes this easier, if you will, is the straightforwardness of persecution. Everyone knew what a person had said, those who opposed them clearly wanted something contrary to that and the results were an obvious show of that conflict.
It seems to me that persecution in modern… (Read the full post)