THE BLESSINGS OF CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION-HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF THE FOURTH WEEK OF EASTER (11TH OF MAY 2022)
THE BLESSINGS OF CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION Acts 11:19-26, Jn 10:22-30 The reading of today is a continuation of the reading of yesterday from the Acts of the apostle's chapter 11. Today we are told that those who were scattered because of the persecution upon the church in Jerusalem, of which Stephen was martyred transited far into the Gentile region of Antioch, Cyprus and Phoenicia. There, some men of Cyprus and Cyrene on coming to Antioch preached the word of God to the Hellenists; consequently, in Acts 11: 24, it is recorded that “many were brought to the Lord”. Antioch, therefore, became the first Gentile Christian community which, eventually in an outstanding description became the starting point of the mission to the Gentiles. Dearest brothers and sisters in Christ, the persecution that was meant to debase, devalue, demean, obliterate and diminish the early Christian community ended up becoming an avenue through which the missionary activity of the church grew; what they were tr...