Facing Modern Persecution
“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.”
John 15:18
One harsh reality plaguing modern thought is that purveyors of truth must be credentialed with the proper ethnicity, gender, and origin to avoid defamation. Not even the memory of saints is spared of this reality. Recent events have demonstrated posthumous castigation of God’s heroic servants, particularly targeting Saints Damien of Molokai and Junípero Serra. In a society that indefatigably chases progress in rights and equality, persecution is alive and well.
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York representative, made headlines with her reprimand of the prevalent use of statues depicting white men to represent the fifty states in the National Statuary Hall. In her grievances posted on Instagram, the congresswoman singled out St. Damien of Molokai, who was originally from Belgium, for his statue’s apparent contribution to colonialism and white supremacy. Though not maligning St. Damien’s personal character, Ocasio-Cortez took issue with the fact that the saint was neither a native Hawaiian nor a woman.
St. Damien may not have been a Hawaiian woman, but he did volunteer to minister to exiles afflicted with leprosy, on the Hawaiian island of Molokai. St. Damien knew there was no turning back once he began his ministry. The Saint knew he would most likely die of leprosy with the rest of his congregation. After years of total service to his flock, St. Damien did, in fact, contract leprosy, and died. A model of selflessness revered by generations of Hawaiians, St. Damien is not good enough for those who are obsessed with the superficialities of race and gender. Those who equate gender and race with virtue disregard a life like St. Damien’s – a life consumed by Christ-like love and intent on evangelizing outcasts of society, no matter the risks.
In the state of California, multiple statues of St. Junípero Serra have been violently torn down. This great missionary also has attracted disdain for his own supposed contributions to colonialism and white supremacy. Yet, the reality of St. Junípero’s life, like St. Damien’s, reveals heroic self-sacrifice. Originally from Spain, St. Junípero volunteered to evangelize and serve the indigenous peoples of coastal California. Throughout this endeavor, St. Junípero patiently endured the chronic pain from an infection, sought to defend the rights of the natives from imposing Spanish Conquistadors, and willingly risked physical harm from hostile native tribes. St. Junípero’s life spells a love letter to Christ and His uncatechized children. Regrettably, America’s supposed enlightened compatriots violently cast the saint’s memorial statues to the dirt.
Any measure of moral progress in our society becomes practically unrecognizable when the distinction between good and evil is so clouded. The vilification of saints over their nationalities and genders is devoid of reason and exposes modernity’s twisted standard of character. This type of modern persecution clearly shows preference for superficial qualities of an individual over his or her virtue.
If saints, whose characters seem irreproachable, can be smeared for their trivial, external qualities, so can we living sinners be frivolously maligned for Christ. In a world comfortably miserable in its lack of God, some may scramble to find baseless reasons to calumniate us Christians, in effect “shooting the messenger” preaching the good, but uncomfortable, news of the cross. However, this challenge we face is not an occasion for mourning. This is a joyful opportunity for redemptive suffering.
For those of us who desire to convey the full truth of the Gospel and foster social constructs that honor God, we must be prepared for white (bloodless) martyrdom. We may encounter odd ad hominem attacks similar to those recently levied against Saints Damien and Junípero. We may indeed witness the assassination of our own character when we preach the counter-cultural message of God’s law. Nevertheless, we should not be perturbed by the pain of ostracization; the stakes of salvation are too high!
“Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”
Luke 23:34
The first step to this kind of redemptive suffering is to wholeheartedly forgive our aggressors. We must remember that we are laboring for everyone’s salvation, including our attackers. Even the pain of forgiveness can be offered up. Let no pain come between us and the quest for heaven. Let no persecution hinder us from winning souls for Christ. Let us pray to St. Damien and St. Junípero to teach us to offer up any suffering we experience in our pursuit of the salvation of souls.