Latest / The Lila Rose Show / E2: Persecution
Transcript
- 0:00Hello everyone, this is Lila Rose and you're listening to the
- 0:04Lila Rose Show. Today's episode is on the topic
- 0:08of persecution. Persecution is something that
- 0:12many of us, or probably all of us in some way or another have
- 0:16experienced or sadly we have unwittingly or purposefully
- 0:22caused others to experience. Persecution is a human problem.
- 0:26It has existed throughout all of human history.
- 0:29Human beings, we persecute one another and we are persecuted.
- 0:33It stems from the ability in each of us to commit wrongdoing,
- 0:37to commit evil, just like we have the ability to commit good.
- 0:41And the definition of the word persecution has to do with
- 0:44persistently annoying, harassing, being hostile, or
- 0:49I'll treating somebody else, especially because of their
- 0:53religious or their political beliefs.
- 0:56And it comes from the Latin word persecution, persecution them,
- 1:00which means to follow, pursue, hunt down, proceed against,
- 1:06prosecute. So it's a human problem.
- 1:09And it's especially important to talk about because even though
- 1:12it may not look like it sometimes in the United States,
- 1:15we have a persecution issue. We have an issue with labeling
- 1:20and seeing others as less than or different than and not
- 1:26wanting to tolerate other people's beliefs.
- 1:29And it's something that I've particularly noticed in the last
- 1:32several years. It's a problem on college
- 1:34campuses. It's a problem in the way we
- 1:37discuss and talk about topics online.
- 1:40It's a problem even economically Now.
- 1:43There are horrific persecutions happening worldwide right now.
- 1:47I want to mention a couple of them to put this into context.
- 1:50For example, in Iraq, there are there used to be 2 million
- 1:55Christians. They are a minority population
- 1:58and always have been and they are now less than 1/4 million
- 2:02because they've been killed or had to flee because of ISIS,
- 2:06because of attacks from radical Islam.
- 2:09An exam. Another example is in China,
- 2:11both Christians and Muslims are persecuted.
- 2:14Recent word got out that there are actually Christian, they're
- 2:17actually Muslim internment camps and internment camps where
- 2:21Muslims are put in it by the communist Chinese and there's
- 2:25very little information about how they are being mistreated.
- 2:29An internment camp is never a good place to be, but it just
- 2:32goes to show that religiously speaking and certain minority
- 2:37groups worldwide are experiencing with persecution,
- 2:40sometimes to the point of martyrdom and death.
- 2:42In the United States is a little different, but it's also very
- 2:46bad. What we see in the United
- 2:48States, and this is something that's happened just recently,
- 2:50is large corporations and whole political parties and
- 2:54individuals who don't want the other side of an opposing
- 2:58viewpoint or another belief system to be able to even speak
- 3:02or to even exist. Recently, JP Morgan Chase closed
- 3:06several accounts of conservative activists with no explanation,
- 3:10so they shut down their bank accounts with no explanation.
- 3:14Many conservatives and those who oppose certain leftist
- 3:18ideologies have been suppressed on social media by the big tech
- 3:22companies are completely shut down.
- 3:24There was a feminist in Canada recently who spoke out about her
- 3:29concern that transgender, the ideology of transgender, was
- 3:33actually hurting biological women and she was banned from
- 3:36Twitter. Live Action has been banned from
- 3:39advertising on Twitter, the organization that I lead, the
- 3:42pro-life Group, for the last three or four years.
- 3:46This is despite the fact that pro abortion groups like Planned
- 3:49Parenthood and other very strong abortion groups are allowed to
- 3:53do advertising on Twitter. I could go on.
- 3:56There are so many examples of this sort of entrenched bias in
- 4:00these companies. But I think one of the biggest
- 4:02concerns I have is the way sometimes we talk to each other
- 4:06online or in person, and this culture of shaming or silencing
- 4:12when you're faced with a position or an opinion that you
- 4:15don't like. And for those who are listening,
- 4:18who are pro-life, who believe in their faith, who are Christians?
- 4:24Not everyone listening is a Christian, I understand.
- 4:25But many of you are Christians are Catholics, people who are
- 4:30trying to live in many ways a counter cultural life.
- 4:32You're not trying to go the way of the culture when it comes to
- 4:35things like human dignity and sexuality and marriage often are
- 4:40called and hateful and bigoted and all kinds of names.
- 4:44And the the hostility towards what you believe in and what you
- 4:48stand for is often very strong. We saw this outside of a Planned
- 4:52Parenthood abortion clinic just last month when a state
- 4:56representative in Pennsylvania in Philadelphia walked up to
- 5:01three teenage girls and their mother and his name is Brian
- 5:04Sims and started to harass them, yelling at them, saying that
- 5:08they making fun of their religion, making fun of them
- 5:11being outside praying outside of Planned Parenthood abortion
- 5:14clinic. And he filmed them.
- 5:15And he told the people that he was live streaming the video to
- 5:19his followers on Twitter and Facebook.
- 5:21Facebook that he would give them a bounty of $100 if they could
- 5:24find the names and identities of these 3 teen girls.
- 5:28He also mocked an elderly woman who was outside the Planned
- 5:31Parenthood. This is a state elected
- 5:33representative and he did not apologize.
- 5:35He only apologized to Planned Parenthood for violating Planned
- 5:39Parenthood non engagement rule where they don't allow any of
- 5:42their volunteers to even talk to pro lifers because they're
- 5:46afraid that they by discussing the abortion topic with a pro
- 5:50lifer, they might become pro-life.
- 5:52So this is just an example among many, but if you're listening,
- 5:56you probably have experienced times where you felt afraid,
- 5:59afraid to say and stand up for what you believe in, where you
- 6:03felt put down or you felt sidelined or silenced because of
- 6:07what you believe in. And so this is for you.
- 6:09This is for anybody for any reason that has experienced
- 6:13that. And I won't.
- 6:13And I'm sharing this, what this episode is coming from a place
- 6:17of my faith because I strongly believe that persecution and how
- 6:22we deal with it comes down to a question of our identity.
- 6:26It comes down to a question of who we know ourselves to be.
- 6:31And the reality is if our identity is based in conditional
- 6:36things. So if our identity is who we
- 6:39know ourselves to be, is based in, for example, how successful
- 6:42we are, if it's based in how popular we are, if it's based on
- 6:47how respected we are, if it's based on how beautiful we are or
- 6:51well liked we are, or how wealthy we are or how healthy we
- 6:56are. If it's based on any of these
- 6:58attributes, then our identity is conditional and we're and when
- 7:02we're not seen as one of these things, if some we're not seen,
- 7:06if we're disliked suddenly, if we're not seen as popular, if
- 7:09we're not seen as beautiful, if we're not seen as successful, if
- 7:12we're not seen as smart, if we're not seen as whatever this
- 7:15these attributes are, then that's an attack we will feel
- 7:19against our identity and persecution.
- 7:21The sting of a persecution, the sting of an attack, will be that
- 7:24much deeper and can unsettle us because our identity is rooted
- 7:29in the conditional and not in the unconditional.
- 7:34And so I think the core of how we deal with persecution has to
- 7:39do with what is our identity. And if our identity is as a
- 7:44Christian, and this is my identity, if our identity is
- 7:48strong enough and deep enough that nothing, then nothing can
- 7:52change it. Change it.
- 7:54And the way to have that identity as a Christian is to
- 7:56know that we are sons and daughters of God, sons and
- 8:01daughters of an all powerful God who loves us, who wants to
- 8:04forgive us, who has come to set us free and who desires eternal
- 8:08life with us because he loves us so much.
- 8:11If that's our identity, then no matter what we face out there in
- 8:14the world, no matter what kind of attacks or trials or
- 8:17challenges or struggles we face, then we will still be rooted in
- 8:23the peace of knowing we are sons and daughters of God.
- 8:26I believe everybody's called to be a son and daughter of God.
- 8:29God created every single person, no matter their background, no
- 8:32matter anything about them, for him, for eternal love.
- 8:35And it's a human. It's the human story, the human
- 8:38quest to discover our truest and deepest identity.
- 8:42But if our identity is in the conditional, if it's in how the
- 8:47world sees us, if the world approves of us, if other people
- 8:51give us that slap on the back, if other people think we're
- 8:54doing a good job, whatever it is, it will never be enough.
- 8:58And then when we face the the pain of letting others down or
- 9:03being opposed or it's even attacked by others, then all of
- 9:07a sudden we will feel this existential pain and this crisis
- 9:11within us. Instead of knowing that we have
- 9:14the invincible identity of being a son and son or a daughter of
- 9:17God because that is who we serve and that is who we follow.
- 9:20We are part of a family of God and everybody out there is
- 9:25called to be our brothers and sisters and we can choose to
- 9:29accept that identity or we can choose to reject it.
- 9:32I want to share an incredible story of somebody who so totally
- 9:36knew their identity as a son of God that nothing could face him,
- 9:41not even death. This is a story of Maximilian
- 9:44Colby, who was a Polish Franciscan Friar during World
- 9:48War 2. At age 13, he joined the
- 9:51Franciscan. So he was very young when he
- 9:53felt a call to faith and to live his life completely for God.
- 9:58When Germany invaded Poland, Maximilian Colby didn't flee.
- 10:02He stayed put in order to organize a temporary hospital.
- 10:06He was ultimately, even though he was there trying to rescue
- 10:09Jews and he was trying there to try to provide shelter to
- 10:12refugees. He was also publishing anti Nazi
- 10:16German publications. And because of the work that he
- 10:20was doing, he was ultimately arrested by the Gestapo and take
- 10:25it to Auschwitz. And when he was imprisoned
- 10:28there, he tried to serve like he had been serving before.
- 10:33He was subjected to really terrible harassment and beatings
- 10:37because he was acting as a priest.
- 10:40But Despite that, he tried to serve and try to love those
- 10:43around him and tried to cultivate his the faith for
- 10:47those around him. Well, at the time a prisoner
- 10:50tried to escape from the camp, which would happen periodically.
- 10:53And this prompted the guest, the S S to pick 10 men to be starved
- 10:59to death inside an underground bunker in order to be a sign to
- 11:04the rest of the prisoners to not even attempt to escape.
- 11:07And when he randomly during a role called, picked these ten
- 11:11different men to be starved to death, one of them cried out and
- 11:14was very distraught and said, my wife, my children, because he
- 11:19was afraid to die and leave behind his children and his
- 11:22wife. And that's when Maximilian Colby
- 11:24stepped out of line and volunteered to take the place of
- 11:29one of these ten men who had been chosen to be starved to
- 11:32death. At that time, Colby, Maximilian
- 11:36Colby and the other nine men were led into the bunker.
- 11:39They were left there to die. And during that time, according
- 11:43to the eyewitnesses, Maximilian Colby would pray with the
- 11:46prisoners. He would be standing or
- 11:48kneeling, and he would be singing.
- 11:51And after two weeks of the starvation and the dehydration,
- 11:57only Maximilian Colby was left alive in that bunker.
- 12:01And at that point, the guards gave him a lethal injection
- 12:04because he wasn't dying, and he died.
- 12:08This is a martyrdom. This is a story that is
- 12:11horrific, but it also shows Maximilian Colby's peace and
- 12:15love in the middle of the worst persecution, even to the point
- 12:20of being willing to take another person's persecution on to
- 12:23himself. And the only way that Maximilian
- 12:25Colby was able to do this. And this is something that he
- 12:29even we know about his life. When he was a very young man, he
- 12:34had an apparition appear to him of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who
- 12:39said that she had to offer him 2 crowns, 1 of purity and one of
- 12:43martyrdom if he would accept them.
- 12:45And he said he would. So it's something that rooted in
- 12:48his identity as a Son of God, as a Son of God the Father, as a
- 12:54disciple of Christ, Maximilian Colby was prepared.
- 12:57He was preparing in a way, his whole life for martyrdom and he
- 13:02was living out his whole life sacrifice and love for others.
- 13:07So. So this is a story that's meant
- 13:08to inspire us. It's obviously an incredible
- 13:10story, but it just goes to show that when your identity is so
- 13:14rooted and who you are and whose you are, and Maximilian Colby
- 13:18had his eye on eternal life, he knew that this life is not all
- 13:21there is. So even in the worst
- 13:22persecution, he did not flinch. He did not reject his faith.
- 13:26He continued to stand up and serve others, even to the point
- 13:28of giving his life in exchange for another person's life.
- 13:32A few things for those that may experience persecution or may
- 13:36experience challenges. I think it's very important to
- 13:39ask ourselves in any situation to ask why are we experiencing
- 13:43persecution? Why do we think somebody is
- 13:46treating us poorly or is upset with us?
- 13:48I think sometimes it's absolutely because it is unfair.
- 13:51It is part of the the way that challenges happen when we are
- 13:56standing up for what's right. But sometimes perhaps it could
- 13:58be that we need to improve. We need to improve the way that
- 14:01we're communicating, the way that we're talking with people.
- 14:04Maybe we need to be more loving and understanding and what we
- 14:08perceive as persecution is actually somebody who is, who is
- 14:11just misunderstanding and asking for more respect and love.
- 14:15So that's always important, especially for something as
- 14:17simple as like a conversation with a friend or a chat room
- 14:20online, leaving comments on Instagram or whatever it is.
- 14:24Our respect and our kindness towards other people is
- 14:26essential because if we're being a jerk, then we shouldn't be
- 14:30surprised when other people are maybe a jerk back to us.
- 14:34The other thing I want to say here too is if we are not
- 14:36experiencing any persecution, if you are out there and you're
- 14:39like, I'm fine, no one's ever been upset with me, then I would
- 14:43say, are you actually really standing up for what's right?
- 14:47And Jesus Christ says that blessed are you when they
- 14:50persecute you for my sake. And he said that no servant is
- 14:54above his master. So if you are a follower of
- 14:57Jesus Christ, you should experience persecution at some
- 15:00point or another. The world will not love you, the
- 15:02world will hate you. And Christ predicted that.
- 15:04And he said that the world would hate him so much as it did.
- 15:08And that's because of our sin that he was even crucified on a
- 15:10cross. But because no servant is above
- 15:13his or her Master, we should not expect to be free of
- 15:16persecution. If Christ was persecuted, so
- 15:19will we be. So if we are just living like
- 15:21the rest of the world, if we are just trying to be pleasing to
- 15:25other people by fitting into their boxes or fitting into how
- 15:29they expect us to live or talk or behave, then perhaps we're
- 15:32not actually being disciples of Christ.
- 15:34Perhaps we're actually not living our truest identity.
- 15:37I want to share a verse from the book of Matthew where Christ
- 15:41promised us persecution. He said in Matthew 543 to 48.
- 15:46Jesus said to his disciples, You have heard it said that you
- 15:50shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
- 15:53But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who
- 15:57persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly
- 16:00Father. For he makes his sunrise on the
- 16:03good and the bad, and causes rain to fall on the just and the
- 16:07unjust. Before I go on, Jesus is doing
- 16:10something very radical here when it comes to persecution.
- 16:13He's saying that not only should we love our neighbor as
- 16:16ourselves, which is the golden rule, it's something that was
- 16:19instituted even before Christ. But he is saying that we should
- 16:23actually love our enemies, not just our neighbor, but our
- 16:26enemies, and that we should pray for those who persecute you.
- 16:29This is exactly what Maximilian Colby did, and he's saying that
- 16:33we should do this, that you may be children of your Heavenly
- 16:36Father, which is incredible because Jesus here is exactly
- 16:40reminding his disciples of their identity.
- 16:42He's saying you are children of your Heavenly Father, your sons
- 16:45and daughters of God. So you have this identity which
- 16:49gives you the strength to pray for those who persecute you,
- 16:52which gives you the strength to love your enemies.
- 16:55And this unconditional identity as children of God is what will
- 16:58enable you to pray for those who persecute you and to stand up to
- 17:02persecution. He goes on and says, Jesus says,
- 17:06for if you love those who love you, what recompense or what
- 17:09reward will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the
- 17:12same? And if you greet your brothers
- 17:14and sisters only, what is unusual about that?
- 17:17Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect just as your
- 17:21heavenly Father is perfect. I mean, very strong words from
- 17:25Christ here in Matthew, be perfect, just as your heavenly
- 17:28Father is perfect. But he's saying that what sets
- 17:32us apart as Christians is the fact that we are the children of
- 17:36God and we love those who are our enemies.
- 17:39We pray for those who persecute us.
- 17:41This is our path to perfection. So this is extremely important
- 17:45because what he's doing here is he's transforming.
- 17:47Christ is explaining the transformation of how
- 17:50persecution actually makes us become perfected.
- 17:53It actually teaches us true sacrificial love, loving our
- 17:58enemies and praying for them. How do we do that?
- 18:01It doesn't mean we don't speak the truth.
- 18:03Actually, love asks us to speak the truth.
- 18:05If we're going to love our enemies, it means telling them
- 18:07the truth, doing it lovingly, trying to find ways to do it,
- 18:11but speaking the truth, especially when so many lies are
- 18:14being told. And it also means that we take
- 18:16the time to pray for those who are the enemy, pray for those
- 18:19who are doing the persecution, who are lost in lies, who are
- 18:22confused. The prayer coupled with our
- 18:26courage to speak and our willingness to serve, that is
- 18:29what will help us become like our Heavenly Father, help us
- 18:33become like Christ. I want to say something else on
- 18:36persecution here too. I've talked a lot about
- 18:38persecution from the outside. Obviously the extreme case of
- 18:42Maximilian Colby and, and the Nazis literally killing him for,
- 18:46for his face and for sacrificing for others and caring for the
- 18:50Jews and caring for others. But also persecution can come
- 18:54from inside of us. And this is actually for me, one
- 18:58of the things that has been the most difficult for me
- 18:59personally. So yes, there's persecution from
- 19:03the opposing side sometimes in politics or in the culture.
- 19:07And you know, I've had my share of death threats and attacks and
- 19:10stalkers and all kinds of things.
- 19:12But for me personally, sometimes the biggest persecution is from
- 19:15my own, within my own heart. Meaning I feel that in my own
- 19:21mind, I think negative thoughts, I doubt or I question, you know,
- 19:26if God is really there. I sometimes I know he's there,
- 19:30but I, I'm not really thinking the thoughts of God is with me.
- 19:34Instead, I'm thinking about how things are going to go wrong.
- 19:37Or I can think about how I'm not good enough or I think about how
- 19:41life is not as good and you know, there's there's no way
- 19:44there's a hopeless case. It's just it's despairing or I'm
- 19:48you beat yourself up because you're upset at yourself over
- 19:50something. Basically, we persecute
- 19:52ourselves. There's so many negative
- 19:53thoughts and Satan loves us. This is a spare thing too, but
- 19:56it's also a psychological thing. There is a world of negative
- 20:01thoughts and negative ideas and negative emotions that can hurt
- 20:05us and that can make a bit we're we're down on us and, and make
- 20:10us feel like we're not really that son or daughter of God.
- 20:14And I think from that perspective, it's all the more
- 20:17important to go back to our unconditional identity and to
- 20:21renew both of both our heart and our mind in that identity.
- 20:25And that's why I want to. Close with I want to close with
- 20:26some tips for how to do that. So whether we're dealing with
- 20:29persecution from the outside, what other people say about us,
- 20:32what other people do, or we're experiencing persecution from
- 20:35the inside, those negative voices that may come in our head
- 20:38or our heart or those negative feelings that we may face.
- 20:42So the tips I want to share for protecting our unconditional
- 20:46identity, first of all, and our unconditional identity is what
- 20:49we're sons and daughters of God. We're destined for eternal life
- 20:52and eternal love with God. We are forgiven, we are
- 20:55redeemed, we are set free. That's our unconditional
- 20:57identity. And before God, we are his
- 20:59beautiful, most beloved and and forever to be enjoyed in heaven
- 21:06forever sons and daughters #1 tip for protecting our
- 21:10unconditional identity. It is necessary for us as humans
- 21:14to find community who are like minded and who share our beliefs
- 21:18so that we can grow with and that we can grow from their
- 21:22influence. We need other people.
- 21:24We are made for community. We're not made to go it alone.
- 21:27We become, you may have heard it said that we become most like
- 21:30the five people we spend the most amount of time with.
- 21:32You may have heard that. Well, I think it's true.
- 21:34The people that we spend the most time with, the people that
- 21:37we who are are confidants, the people that who we confide and
- 21:40we share our soul with, these are the people that influence
- 21:44us. And of course we can influence
- 21:46them. And what I'm saying here is not
- 21:48that we can't have friends who disagree with us or who have
- 21:50different beliefs and that we can't have very close
- 21:53relationships with those that are maybe very different from
- 21:56us. But I'm saying that we need
- 21:58community of those who are on the same path, who believe
- 22:01themselves to be sons and daughters of God, who are trying
- 22:04to actually follow Christ and fulfill his commandments.
- 22:08And who are going to help us become the men and the women we
- 22:10are created to be. Who are going to help strengthen
- 22:13our beliefs, belief in God and strengthen our good habits and
- 22:17strengthen what we do, what the good that we can do and who are
- 22:21on that journey with us. So this is something that can be
- 22:24found in churches. It can be found in young adults
- 22:28group. You can, you know, find a close
- 22:30group of friends in the pro-life movement.
- 22:31If you're involved in that, finding some folks who are on
- 22:34the same page. There's even online groups or
- 22:38that you can join to at least first connect with people.
- 22:40Of course, I think our community needs to be in person.
- 22:43We need to be in the flesh with each other.
- 22:45But there are people out there like you.
- 22:47There are people out there who want to be disciples of Christ
- 22:51and who believe the truth about life and sex and the dignity of
- 22:56the person and all of these things that are so controversial
- 22:59today about abortion and about how sex is for marriage and
- 23:04about God and and his love. So find those people and if you
- 23:10are struggling to find them, then look around at the
- 23:13communities close to you, whether it's churches or your
- 23:17local young adults group if you're a young adult, because
- 23:21they are out there and don't give up until will you find that
- 23:24group. It can be just a couple people,
- 23:25but people that you can become friends with that will be on the
- 23:29same page with you. We were made for community or a
- 23:32family. People in our family who might
- 23:33be on the same page that we can be close with #2 is having a
- 23:38relationship with Christ. It's really impossible to be
- 23:41rooted in our identity as a son and daughter of God if we don't
- 23:45have a relationship with Christ. We absolutely need to cultivate
- 23:48that friendship with Christ. So what does that look like to
- 23:52really identify with Him and have a friendship with Him?
- 23:55Well, first of all, there's three things I'm going to share,
- 23:58but I want to 1st caveat it and say a relationship with God is
- 24:03not just about our feelings or our subjective experiences.
- 24:07Obviously those things matter and we can use them to help draw
- 24:12closer to God, but sometimes we have bad feelings.
- 24:15Sometimes there's an experience we didn't understand that makes
- 24:18this question what we have to go back to in a relationship with
- 24:22Christ is 3 things. First of all, prayer.
- 24:25Second of all, study and what God has to say, which is the
- 24:28Bible and the Magisterium of the faith.
- 24:32And the third thing or the the, the extrapolation of what that
- 24:36teaching of Christ really is. And then the third thing is the
- 24:39sacraments. And to explain each one.
- 24:41First of all, prayer you actually, we actually need to
- 24:43spend time talking to God and trying to listen in silence for
- 24:49God in order to actually deepen that relationship with him.
- 24:53And this means taking the time each day set aside.
- 24:56Some of you may go to daily mass or other services or some of you
- 25:00may just have your 10 minutes or 30 minutes of quiet time.
- 25:03But taking that time to actually sit with God, to share your
- 25:07heart with them, to ask for forgiveness for the things that
- 25:09you need forgiveness for, to give the difficulties to him, to
- 25:13praise him, to thank him, to meditate on the good that he has
- 25:17done, to meditate on his promises.
- 25:19We need to take time for prayer. The second thing is study of his
- 25:23teachings of Christ teachings. We need to familiarize ourselves
- 25:26with the life of Christ, read the gospels, know the Bible,
- 25:29understand what Christ was saying by taking time to
- 25:32actually sit with it and study it and read commentary on it.
- 25:36If we don't understand the life of Christ, it's probably because
- 25:39we haven't taken enough time to try.
- 25:40And I'm not saying we will completely understand the life
- 25:43of Christ, but we can grow an understanding by taking the time
- 25:46to study it, taking the time to learn it, taking the time to
- 25:50study Christ's life and also the teachings of his church.
- 25:54Study what are the teachings about life and sexuality and
- 25:57marriage and how we are to live and how we are to serve and what
- 26:00it means to be a disciple. So that takes study.
- 26:03So we need to take time for prayer, take time for study,
- 26:06and, and the last thing about having a relationship with
- 26:09Christ is the sacraments. This is something that these are
- 26:11things that Christ instituted for us to be close to him in a
- 26:15very physical way. So baptism is the first
- 26:20sacrament that we have and it's something that some of us
- 26:24received as children. Some of us chose it as
- 26:25teenagers, depending on how we were raised or maybe even as
- 26:28adults. But baptism is actually adoption
- 26:31into the family of God and we're wiped free of the stain of
- 26:33original sin. It's a physical thing that
- 26:35happens to us with the water, but it's also a spiritual
- 26:37renewal and it's something that we need in our relationship with
- 26:41Christ. Another sacrament that's very
- 26:43powerful is confession. And this is from the Catholic
- 26:47perspective, or if you're Orthodox going to confession,
- 26:49you're actually talking through the priest to God and it's
- 26:52actually an A moment where you're sharing your sin and he
- 26:56is explicitly forgiving you. Now we can still confess our sin
- 26:59anytime, anywhere, but this is also a sacrament where you
- 27:02actually receive through the words of Christ, through the
- 27:05words of the priest, the words of Christ and the forgiveness of
- 27:07Christ. Another sacrament that's very
- 27:10powerful is marriage. For those of you that are
- 27:12married or feeling called to marriage, this is a sacrament
- 27:15that's meant to draw you closer to Christ.
- 27:16I know in my marriage it absolutely has brought me closer
- 27:20to Christ and to know the love of Christ.
- 27:21So the sacraments are really important.
- 27:24I might talk about that those all in a future episode, but
- 27:27these are this is the life of the Church.
- 27:28This is the life of a Christian. Our prayer, our community, our
- 27:31study, our sacraments in it and all through it developing our
- 27:36relationship with Christ, our friendship with Christ so we can
- 27:38truly follow him. Bottom line is persecution of
- 27:44any kind from within or without can be transformed when we
- 27:50endure it and experience it through the lens of Christ,
- 27:54through the lens of our unconditional identity as
- 27:59children, as sons and daughters of God.
- 28:02And from looking at it in order to transform it, experiencing it
- 28:06to transform it, to use it as an opportunity to love the person
- 28:10persecuting us, to pray, say a prayer for the person we're
- 28:14talking with, whether it's on social media or the friend who
- 28:18disagrees or the person who maybe vandalizes our pro-life
- 28:23sign at our university. I know a bunch of you had faced
- 28:25that. Or we pray for the person that
- 28:28we are debating with. Or we we pray for the the tech
- 28:32social media tech bosses. We pray for our politicians, we
- 28:36pray for the conversion of souls, and we also speak up.
- 28:40We also speak up and speak the truth as we continue to seek to
- 28:44serve and to love others with that when with God's strength,
- 28:49knowing our identity, any persecution is not only
- 28:53bearable, but it is something that we can transform.
- 28:56And that's why this is the secret that Christ left us with.
- 29:01And when he ascended into heaven, he, he gave us, he's,
- 29:03he's teaching us, because it's the life that he lived, one
- 29:06where he was persecuted unto death, but he, his own death
- 29:11became a ransom for our sin. And that persecution, when we
- 29:15enter into it in our own little way, whatever we endure,
- 29:18experience, we can become a part of that powerful redeeming love.
- 29:24And that's the beauty of persecution, even when there is
- 29:28the hurt alongside of it. As always, I love hearing from
- 29:33you guys. If anybody has any thoughts or
- 29:36questions or feedback for me for this topic of persecution for
- 29:40this episode, I would love to hear from you.
- 29:43You can e-mail me at thoughts@lilaroshow.com.
- 29:47That's thoughts at lilaroshow.com.
- 29:50I hope this episode was helpful, was interesting for you guys.
- 29:54Thank you so much for listening. If you found it useful, please
- 29:58subscribe, please review, leave five stars if you can.
- 30:02That will help this podcast reach more people.
- 30:04And thank you all so much. Have a wonderful rest of your
- 30:07morning, day, evening, night.