Blessed Antagonism

Indeed, the Church admits
that she has greatly profited and still profits
from the antagonism of those who oppose
or who persecute her. – Gaudium et spes, Vatican II

An extraordinary thing. This is the same deeply redeemed vantage point that the Beatitudes call us to:

Blessed are you when people hate you,
and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you
on account of the Son of Man.
Rejoice in that day and leap for joy,
for surely your reward is great in heaven;
for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets. – Luke 6:22

The world is watching to see if the extreme love the Gospels describe as the Messiah’s response to human evil, hatred and rejection is to be found in the “Christians,” as that Greek name given Jesus’ disciples in Acts indicates they are supposedly οί τοῦ χριστοῦ “those of Christ.”

As anyone who lives in the midst of our post-Christain society knows, the disconnect between faith and culture is frequently sharp and cutting. Such a social contrast makes for an effective forgery of Christian character, as the Letter of James 3:2-3 reminds us:

Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces cheerful endurance.

On December 17, 2009, James Bain was freed from prison after postconviction DNA testing proved his innocence of a 1974 rape and kidnapping. At the time of his release, Bain’s 35 years spent in prison was the longest time served by any of the DNA exonerees nationwide. He was 19 years old when he was imprisoned and released at 54 years old.

How would you respond if that was you?

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