Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 21:12-19. Before all this happens, however, they will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name.
It will lead to your giving testimony.
Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand,
for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.
You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death.
You will be hated by all because of my name,
but not a hair on your head will be destroyed.
By your perseverance you will secure your lives.
Commentary of the day : Saint Augustine
"By your perseverance you will secure your lives"
Do you want to come to that life where you will be sheltered from error forever? Who does not want this?... We all desire life and truth but how are we to attain it? What path are we to follow? Certainly, we have not reached the end of the journey yet we can already see it..., we yearn for life and truth. Christ is both one and the other. What is the way to it? «I am the way,» he says. To what will we come? «I am the truth and the life» (Jn 14,6).
This is what the martyrs loved; this is why they looked beyond the love of present goods that pass away. Don't be astonished at their bravery: in them love overcame suffering... Let us walk in their footsteps, our eyes fixed on him who is both their Leader and ours. If we would come to so great a happiness, let us not be afraid of treading difficult paths. He who has promised is true; he is faithful; he could not deceive us... Why fear the hard road of suffering and tribulation? Our Savior in person has trodden it.
You answer: «But that was him, the Savior!» Know that the apostles passed that way too. Now you're going to say: «But they were apostles!» Yes, I know. But don't forget that a great many people like yourself have trodden it in their turn..., women have trodden it, too... children, even young girls have gone that way. How could the road that so many passers-by have levelled still be too hard?
This is what the martyrs loved; this is why they looked beyond the love of present goods that pass away. Don't be astonished at their bravery: in them love overcame suffering... Let us walk in their footsteps, our eyes fixed on him who is both their Leader and ours. If we would come to so great a happiness, let us not be afraid of treading difficult paths. He who has promised is true; he is faithful; he could not deceive us... Why fear the hard road of suffering and tribulation? Our Savior in person has trodden it.
You answer: «But that was him, the Savior!» Know that the apostles passed that way too. Now you're going to say: «But they were apostles!» Yes, I know. But don't forget that a great many people like yourself have trodden it in their turn..., women have trodden it, too... children, even young girls have gone that way. How could the road that so many passers-by have levelled still be too hard?
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