Dearest Goddaughter (LTR-78) - Why do we persecute our Lord?

Dearest Goddaughter,

In today's reading from the Acts of the Apostle, we hear about one of the accounts of Saul's conversion. While on the way to Damascus, Jesus appeared to Saul and said to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" In that moment, Saul's eyes are darken by the light of Christ in the same way that our hearts are darken when we persecute our Lord and our God with our sins.

It was a frightening moment for Saul because not only was he blind physically but spiritually as well. He was a Pharisee, a learned man of the faith, and yet he could not see the light of Christ. How many of us today are cultural Catholics and yet we persecute Jesus with our actions or inactions when it comes to living out the virtues faith, hope, and love in our lives.

Yet, God never gives up on us and, as He sent Ananias to Saul, Jesus puts people in our lives so that we may come to see his light in our lives. The "ball is in our court", how will we respond to God's love and mercy for us? Based on a recent Pew Research study, only 28% of Catholics go to Mass regularly. That means 72% of Catholics persecute Jesus when they respond to God's love and mercy with indifference.

In the Gospel today, even if it is not apparent to us how much God loves us, God so loved the world that He gave us His only Begotten Son to die on the Cross for us. Jesus loves us so much that He left us His Body and Body in the Eucharist to sustain us and strengthen us. So, go to Mass and invite, encourage fallen away Catholics to return to Mass.

Love,

Bỏ Phúc

P.S. These are the readings for the day: Acts 9:1-20 and Jn 6:52-59 (see below).

. . .

The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying,

"How can this man give us his Flesh to eat?"

Jesus said to them,

"Amen, amen, I say to you,

unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood,

you do not have life within you.

Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood

has eternal life,

and I will raise him on the last day.

For my Flesh is true food,

and my Blood is true drink.

Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood

remains in me and I in him.

Just as the living Father sent me

and I have life because of the Father,

so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.

This is the bread that came down from heaven.

Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died,

whoever eats this bread will live forever."

These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.