The Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – July 6, 2025
There is a disconcerting tendency among some Catholics and other Christians to claim persecution if they encounter any resistance to their faith. Let’s be clear. Critique, dispute, even dislike of our faith by another is not persecution. Not getting our way is not oppression. The martyrs who were killed were persecuted. African Americans enslaved, lynched, and treated for centuries as subhuman—even by “good Catholics”—can rightly claim oppression and demand change. But overall, there is no war on Christianity in the United States.
Still, the urge to respond to the slightest rejection with resentment, bitterness, and hostility is strong. Though he sent his disciples out “like lambs among wolves,” Jesus never promised that the wolves would change. Conversion of hearts is the work of the Spirit, not ours.
Our mission as disciples always begins by saying one thing to everyone, whether or not they agree with us and the Gospel we bear: “Peace to this household.”
Our mission as disciples always begins by saying one thing to everyone, whether or not they agree with us and the Gospel we bear: “Peace to this household.” Even before we know who we are speaking to or their response, we bless them with peace by our words and our deeds.
The Gospel will never be heard by force or false claims of victimization but only by peace. Our mission is not to change people’s minds but to be Christ’s presence of peace, a visible sign of God’s reign in a world too quick to react like wolves.
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