Daily Gospel Reflection for November 27, 2019

Reflection by Christine Cooney Today's Gospel: Luke 21:12-19 In today’s Gospel, Jesus calls us to be faithful witnesses in our daily life. It’s tempting to skim the passage. Not many of us are in serious and grave danger for professing and living out our faith. At least, not many of us are danger of being killed for the profession of our faith. Rather, we might be more familiar with the kind of persecution that happens on a smaller, more tedious level. Coworkers who constantly press you on the size of your family. Relatives who can’t understand why you insist on going to Mass every Sunday. Or friends who just can’t understand why the Church won’t "get with the times". Persecution, Jesus warns us, is inevitable. But don’t fear! God will provide special help to us in these times. We need only and always to turn our face toward Him, and trust in Him. For it’s Christ that will provide an answer to your interrogators, and Christ that will provide consolation to your soul. Ultimately, it’s always Christ where we find our joy, our hope, and our salvation. We are never promised an easy life, free of tribulation or trial. But we are promised the salvation of our souls if we endure. And that, indeed, is a promise worth striving towards.

Ponder:

Is there someone you face regularly who persistently presses or needles you over your faith? Do you avoid that person out of discomfort or fear?

Pray:

Heavenly Father, grant me the faith to endure persecution of every kind. Grant that I might always remember to turn my heart toward You and trust in You in every situation, large and small.

Copyright 2019 Christine Cooney Christine Cooney is a wife, mother, compulsive reader, and freelance writer living in Central Ohio. She also takes pictures (@Christine__Co) with her iPhone and blogs at Epiphanies of Beauty. Receive CatholicMom.com newsletters in your inbox, including the Daily Gospel Reflection each morning! * indicates required