A mockery of the Faith

It's a traditional formula to pray to be "made worthy of the promises of Christ." I'm not sure, though, how sincerely I can pray to be made worthy of all of Christ's promises. One of these promises is put in stark terms by St. Paul:

In fact, all who want to live religiously in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

My hypothesis today is that the Catholic Church is persecuted for what she teaches. Not what she has been given to teach, but what she actually teaches (and by "she" I of course mean "we").

So what are the common complaints, the stock prejudices, the stand-up comic routines, the op-ed tropes directed against the Church? That we believe in God, the Father Almighty? That we believe in Jesus Christ, His Son, Who became man and died to save us? That we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, and the resurrection of the body?

When the Church is mocked for her faith in the Eucharist, she is doing something right.

But as eager as some Catholics are to send up the balloon and race to the catacombs, I think we are doing a lousy job of being persecuted for preaching Christ and Him Crucified.

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