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. (John 15:18-19 NABRE)
Hate is a such a strong term! It is set up here as the active expression of love's opposite. We don't like it today, and it was clearly no different in Jesus' day. During the Last Supper narrative in John's gospel, using such frankness, Jesus explains to his friends who he is and what it will mean to follow him.
Today's verse is troubling mostly because it goes against our natural desire to fit in. It is counter to our most basic urge to belong and to feel loved. So, to accept what he says and to choose to follow him, is an act of courage and faith. To continue to express one's faith as the hatred of the world expresses itself toward the believer can be difficult, and prayer is the only anchor we have.
Go to prayer each day. Make each moment a prayer of thanksgiving. Build this habit. Make it part of your very nature. Remake yourself in prayer. Any prayer. A word. A thought. A breath. Do it a few minutes each day, and add to it. Before you know it, you will have become prayer-full. And the Lord does not leave his own. Each time we trust the Lord, he fills us with all we fear to lose--with the love and belonging we needed all along.
Today, on this Saturday of the Fifth Week of Easter, I will gratefully embrace the confirming discomfort I feel when I don't seem to fit in with others around me who belong to the world.
Saint Catherine of Bologna, patron of artists, pray for us.
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