"Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." - Matthew 5:10"Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." - Matthew 5:10
To suffer persecution for justice sake is the common lot of all who follow Christ. It is one of the marks of predestination. As soon as a sinner turns to God, at once some form of persecution or other commences; some kind of suffering is inflicted by those around; sometimes parents disown their child, or a husband changes his former kindness to bitter unkindness; or for justice sake money, position, worldly influence is forfeited. Blessed are those who here have to endure this persecution for justice sake.
Sometimes God allows His friends to be persecuted and misunderstood, not so much by evil men, or worldly relations, or lax Christians, as by those who are holy and devoted to Him. It has been said that the most cruel form of persecution is that which is inflicted by a holy man, or a Religious Superior. The authority of the persecutor makes the blows he inflicts fall far more heavily; his virtue makes the pain he inflicts far sharper. It is for this reason a very great privilege, only we must be careful that it is for justice sake, and not because of our pride or obstinacy or carelessness, or other defects, that we are persecuted.
What is the reward of being persecuted for justice sake? None else than the Kingdom of Heaven. The persecuted then will triumph, and their place will be exalted in proportion as they have been thrust low on earth, put out of sight, and cruelly used for conscience sake. They not only will be admitted into the Kingdom of Heaven, but the Kingdom of Heaven will be theirs.
- taken from The Ministry of Jesus Christ: Short Meditations on the Public Life of Our Lord, by Father Richard Frederick Clarke, SJ