Catechism Themes

CCC 852: the Spirit of Christ sustains the Christian mission
CCC 905: evangelizing by the example of life
CCC 1808, 1816: courageous witness of faith overcomes fear and death
CCC 2471-2474: bear witness to the truth
CCC 359, 402-411, 615: Adam, Original Sin, Christ the New Adam

CYCLE A INDEX

Morality and the Passions (CCC 1763-1770)

Echoing
God’s Word

by Fr. Clement D. Thibodeau

REFLECTIONS

Fear of God

Lesson Plans

12th Sunday of Year A –

Catechist Background and Preparation
Primary Session
Intermediate Session
Junior High School

Persecution and Suffering

The deprivation and pain involved in mental, physical, spiritual, or emotional suffering is an inevitable part of the human experience. In addition, those believers who stand up for gospel values and the message of the kingdom of God may find themselves persecuted for their stance. Meaning, significance, and a transforming purpose can be found in these trials, however, when they are undergone in union with Christ. God does not promise to take away all pain and suffering, yet the affirmation that God is our deliverance is a thread running throughout both Old and New Testaments. The deliverance of God is often experienced as an abiding presence to the faithful in their suffering.

Both Old and New Testament scriptural figures undergo pain and suffering because they are faithfully following God’s call, such as the prophet Jeremiah and the Suffering Servant of Isaiah. Saint Stephen is stoned to death for his faith in the Christ. Saints Peter and Paul are persecuted and eventually put to death for their devotion to the Son of God.

The history of the early Christian Church too is replete with the example of martyrs who witnessed to the faith through the shedding of their blood. Catholics celebrate this witness even today in the liturgical cycle. Our Church calendar contains feasts and solemnities in observance of the deaths of the martyrs whose blood was the seed of the early Christian community. Through the eyes of faith we see their deaths as triumphs and victories, testimonies of God’s love overcoming evil, sin, and the difficulty of human suffering.

The word itself, martyr, in Greek means “witness.” This witness to the faith is not limited to the early history of the Church. From those foundational days to the present, martyrs have shed their blood in faithfulness to the God who loves us.
There is, of course, a certain tension involved theologically and existentially, in this contemplation of persecution and suffering when there are so many scriptural texts that emphasize God’s providence and protection. However, it is important to note that God is not the author of suffering and pain. Suffering is linked to natural, worldly processes and, in a biblical and theological view, to the misuse of free will resulting in the fall of humanity from its original graced state. Thus, God in Jesus plunged into our human experience and endured what we ourselves endure, that is, suffering and death, in order to offer us salvation. God’s mercy holds out to us the salve (from the same Latin root word for “salvation”) for our wounded natures. Believers respond to the difficulty and pain of human suffering and persecution by personally appropriating through prayer, sacraments, and Christian solidarity the healing power of Christ’s resurrection, understanding that what one suffers may ultimately be redemptive.

DISCUSSION STARTERS

• How does understanding about Jesus’ suffering help us carry our burdens?
• How might we be asked to suffer today for our beliefs?
• Who are some present day martyrs?

28 Lessons

Fr. Eamon Tobin

Eighth Commandment: Witness to the Truth

How are we called to be witnesses to the Gospel? What are three obstacles that we face as we seek to live the truth of the Gospel? Is lying a mortal sin? Is it okay sometimes to withhold the truth?

3 Minute
Catechism