The Church Hated by the World
If no one hates your Church, can it still be the Church of Jesus Christ?
“If I were not a Catholic, and were looking for the true Church in the world today, I would look for the one Church which did not get along well with the world; in other words, I would look for the Church which the world hates. My reason for doing this would be, that if Christ is in any one of the churches of the world today, He must still be hated as He was when He was on earth in the flesh.” — Fulton Sheen
What wrong did Jesus ever do to deserve death on the cross? Why was He so hated when He was meant to be loved?
After all the miracles that Jesus did, and after all the good deeds He has done, He was still hated. Hated to death! And Jesus was God’s Perfect Son.
Must His followers expect a different treatment from the world?
Jesus Himself warned:
“If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, since I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you…If I hadn’t done amongst them the works which no one else did, they wouldn’t have had sin. But now they have seen and also hated both me and my Father. But this happened so that the word may be fulfilled which was written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’”- John 15, WEBBE
I am not saying that the members of the Catholic Church are perfect. No, for not even the apostles of Christ were perfect. Wasn’t Judas among them? But Jesus chose to work among them and to send them to the world to proclaim the Gospel.
The people within may sin, but the message of Christ remains. And it is this message that is hated by the world.
“And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.” — John 3:19, WEBBE
“The wicked fear the good, because the good are a constant reproach to their consciences. The ungodly like religion in the same way that they like lions, either dead or behind bars; they fear religion when it breaks loose and begins to challenge their consciences.”―Fulton J. Sheen, Life of Christ
Despite all the imperfections of the Church today, and despite all the weaknesses of its members, it still stands as a beacon of light and truth in a world grown dim.
The Church still speaks about the existence of God. It speaks about the value of life. It speaks about the dignity of man. It speaks about purity and self-control. It speaks about the Ten Commandments. It speaks about an objective truth that the world no longer wishes to hear. And last but not the least, it speaks about the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. It speaks about the Living God who is present among us!
“If you would find Christ today, then find the Church that does not get along with the world. Look for the Church that is hated by the world, as Christ was hated by the world.… Look for the Church which is accused of having a devil, as Our Lord was accused of being possessed by Beelzebub, the Prince of Devils. Look for the Church which the world rejects because it claims it is infallible, as Pilate rejected Christ because he called Himself the Truth…and the suspicion will grow, that if the Church is unpopular with the spirit of the world, then it is unworldly, and if it is unworldly, it is other-worldly. Since it is other-worldly, it is infinitely loved and infinitely hated as was Christ Himself.”―Fulton J. Sheen
Do you want to learn more about the Catholic faith? You may want to take a look at my book “Defending My Catholic Faith” — click here.
You may also want to read:
Of Waves and Butterflies: Poems on Grief
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Jocelyn Soriano is a Catholic devotional writer and poet. Aside from Medium, she also writes at I Take Off the Mask and Single Catholic Writer.