In the midst of fierce persecution, Peter wrote two letters to the early Christians. In the second one he told them how we should live in response to the “Day of God”:

What sort of persons ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be kindled and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire! But according to his promise we wait for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. (2 Peter 3:12,13)

We should live our lives faithfully while all of these things occur around us.

We are living in an age of persecution against Christians. In 2013, Timothy Cardinal Dolan of New York told all of the Catholic Bishops of the United States:

We are living in what must be recognized as, in the words of Blessed John Paul II, “a new age of martyrs.” One expert calculates that half of all Christian martyrs were killed in the twentieth century alone. The twenty-first century has already seen one million people killed around the world because of their belief in Jesus Christ — one million already in this young century. And the threat to religious believers is growing.”

In North Africa and the Middle East our brethren are shedding their blood for the faith. In the West, Christians are suffering a soft persecution, a growing discrimination which seeks to squeeze them out of the public square and compel them to bend the knee to a new Caesar.

In Luke’s Gospel we read these words of Jesus concerning His return:

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. (From Luke 21:12-19)

We were born and born again for these times. We should not be surprised people are treating us the way they treated Jesus. After all, it is one of the promises of the Bible! It comes from the mouth of the Lord Himself:

If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you. Remember the word I spoke to you, “No servant is greater than his master.” If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. (John 15:18-20)

Christian culture is infected by a mistaken notion that following Jesus means we will no longer suffer or face need. The Gospel without the cross is poor theology; it has caused Christians to miss the mark, the definition of the Greek word translated “sin” in the New Testament.

Paul told the Philippians, “I know indeed how to live in humble circumstances; I know also how to live with abundance. In every circumstance and in all things I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need.” (Philippians 4:12)

Paul lived in the presence of God. He was so profoundly close to the Lord that he had mystical experiences of being caught up in heaven. (2 Cor. 12) Yet, he suffered greatly. He was misunderstood, betrayed and experienced intense emotional, economic and physical hardships. He had reasons to become bitter, but he became better.

Paul cultivated an interior strength from living a fully surrendered life. The Lord who called him to conversion changed him called him to ongoing conversion. He learned to empty himself of himself so that he could be filled with the life of God. He offered his suffering, struggle and setbacks to the Lord by joining them to the Cross of Jesus Christ. (Col. 1:24)

Paul embraced what St. Jose Maria Escriva called the “Christian revolution”: “The great Christian revolution has been to convert pain into fruitful suffering and to turn a bad thing into something good. We have deprived the devil of this weapon; and with it we conquer eternity.” (The Furrow #887)

We will suffer, be misunderstood, betrayed by friends, shipwrecked (at least figuratively), and experience struggles. It is a promise of the Bible. When we learn to embrace it in love, we join the Christian revolution.