Denver Catholic

2 FEBRUARY 11-24, 2017 | DENVER CATHOLIC Archbishop's Page Archbishop's Column Most Rev. Samuel J. Aquila PHOTO OF THE WEEK ARCHBISHOP'S SCHEDULE FEB. 11: Mass, Catholic Biblical School's Servant of the Word Workshop, Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish, Northglenn (11 a.m.); Mass, 100th anniversary of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Wiggins (5 p.m.) FEB. 12: Mass, St. Helena Parish, Fort Morgan (9 a.m. and 11 a.m.) FEB. 14: Mass with seminarians and faculty, Redemptoris Mater Seminary chapel, St. John Paul II Center (5:30 p.m.) FEB. 15: Fifth-Grade Liturgy, Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception (10 a.m.) FEB. 17: Fifth-Grade Liturgy, Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception (10 a.m.) FEB. 18: Mass and Confirmation, Our Lady of Loreto Parish, Foxfield (10 a.m.) FEB. 25: Transitional diaconate ordination, Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception (10 a.m.) Published by the Archdiocese of Denver, 1300 S. Steele St., Denver, CO 80210 Denver Catholic (USPS 557-020) is published bi-weekly, except monthly in January. Denver Catholic is printed by Prairie Mountain Publishing, LLC in Boulder. Periodical postage paid in Denver, CO. SUBSCRIPTIONS: $35 a year in Colorado; $42 per year out of state. Foreign countries: $42 surface, all countries, 6-8 weeks for delivery; $135 air, all other countries (average). Mexico, $48 air; Canada, $55 air. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Denver Catholic, Circulation Dept., 1300 S. Steele St., Denver, CO 80210 or email circulation@archden.org. EDITORIAL: 303-722-4687 or denvercatholic@archden.org. ADVERTISING: 303-715-3253 or denvercatholicads@archden.org. CIRCULATION CUSTOMER SERVICE: 303-715-3230 or circulation@archden.org. General Manager KARNA SWANSON Director ANDREW WRIGHT Business Manager MICHAEL O'NEILL Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila visits with two students of Sacred Heart of Jesus School in Boulder as they work on computers. PHOTO BY ANDREW WRIGHT W e live in a time of heroic witnesses who are giving their lives or su• ering for the faith, but few people know it. As Pope Francis recently said, "The mar- tyrs of today are more numerous than those of the fi rst century." Rather than discourage us, their witness should strengthen and challenge us. I recently learned that the 2016 report from Open Doors showed that the persecution of Christians not only increased in places like Syria or Iraq, but that it is also on the rise in places like Mexico, India and China. In fact, the report found that worldwide, 215 million Christians experienced some form of persecution last year, making Christianity the most persecuted faith. The Vatican-based news agency Fides also reported that 28 Catholic pastoral workers were killed in 2016. That so many Christians are suf- fering provokes several thoughts. The fi rst is the famous quote from Ter- tullian, who said, "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church." Certainly we see this with Christ's death and resurrection, which made our salvation possible. We also see it in more modern examples like St. Maximilian Kolbe or Bl. Miguel Pro, whose examples have inspired count- less people to deeper faith. The strength of faith and love for Jesus that every martyr shows is truly a gift. Who could not be moved to hear how the Egyptian martyrs cried out, "Jesus" as they were beheaded by ISIS? But why would God allow this to happen to his most loyal followers? We fi nd the answer in the Gospel. Jesus tells us that people hated him because he exposed their deeds as evil. The world, he said, will hate his followers for the same reason. In the Gospel of John we read, "And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed" (Jn 3:19-20). Today many prefer the darkness of sin to the truth of the Gospel, the truth that will set them free, Jesus Christ. Even many Christians want to have one foot in the Gospel and one foot in the world by condon- ing evil with a false understanding of mercy, compassion, and love. Nowhere in the Gospel do you fi nd Jesus condoning sin in the name of mercy. True mercy always trans- forms the human heart, as it exposes it to the unconditional love of Jesus Christ so that the sinner may weep for his sins and know the freedom and new life that comes from being forgiven. The persecuted Church reminds us that Jesus' mercy prevails in darkness, but it doesn't pretend that darkness is light. Jesus further teaches, "If the world hates you, realize that it hated me fi rst. 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. … If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. … And they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin; but as it is they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me also hates my Father" (Jn 15:18-23). Yes, these are strong words of Jesus, and they are words that cannot be ignored in the times in which we live. We can never water down the Gospel or think the Gospel is soft. In his fi rst month as pope, Bene- dict XVI o• ered advice to a group of German youth that we should take to heart. He said, "The ways of the Lord are not easy, but we were not created for an easy life, but for great things, for goodness." Just as the Father sus- tained Jesus in the darkness of the Cross, so too, does he sustain us today in the darkness in which we live. With God's grace, the Holy Spirit living in us, each of us can stand in solidarity with our persecuted broth- ers and sisters by being a light for those around us. To be a light means speaking about the truth and freedom that we have discovered in Christ. It also means naming the evil that we encounter and loving those ensnared by it, "accompanying " them in the words of Pope Francis to lead them to the encounter with Jesus Christ, who is the only one who can set them free and bring light to their darkness. In a January 2016 video from the EUK Mamie Foundation called "Wake Up," Archbishop Amel Shamon Nona, then-Eparch of Mosul, Iraq o• ered this advice to believers throughout the world, "You can help us by building a more active and cou- rageous Christian society, which is active, brave. You have to evangelize your society again with courage, with- out any fear of saying, 'We're Chris- tians.'" To build a Christian society is possible only if we live our faith in the world and name evil and sin for what it is. It means putting Jesus fi rst, before the ways of the world. This must always be done with charity, and we must know Jesus deeply and have fi rst encountered him ourselves. Besides bringing God's light to our society, believers should also express their solidarity with the persecuted by giving voice to their su• ering. Jus- tice demands that we support them with our prayers, resources and by calling upon our government and the world to protect the common right to religious liberty. The witness of the thousands of martyrs who died in 2016 challenges each of us to a deeper faith that is able to respond to the darkness with God's love. May the Holy Spirit stir into fl ame his gifts in our hearts and souls so that we may proclaim with bold- ness the joy of the Gospel! Christian persecution challenges and strengthens

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