 Thank you, Scott. What a blessing it has been to have two Han boys in the seminary at Sacred Heart in Detroit. I knew I had Hans in class when I started getting papers turned in with subheadings that were hilarious theological corny puns. Chips off the old block. Well, what Scott just said about suffering, he's talking about suffering, is a perfect preparation for my talk. I don't mean listening to my talk. So actually, maybe we could take another moment to just stand up, because you've been sitting for a long time already, and some of you had long travels to get here, especially if you came from Nigeria or Sri Lanka. So maybe you could just turn to somebody near you and say, I'm so happy you're here. All right, you're a friendly group. Don't get too friendly. How many of you can say this is the first time in more than a year and a half when I've been together in one room with 750 of my closest friends? Isn't it wonderful? Isn't it a blessing that we can be together in the name of Jesus, worshiping Him together, speaking about the things that matter the most together, building up each other's faith together in the flesh in one room? Thank you, God. Thank you, God, for that blessing. All right, you may be seated, if you like. You can keep standing if you'd like. The title of my talk is Count it All Joy, Discipleship in Times of Trial. Let's pray. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen. Oh, God, Heavenly Father. We have been through times of trial, and there are some here who are very much still in the midst of a time of trial, and we lift up our hearts to you right in the midst of the trials we are in that we have been through in the recent past because we know, oh, Lord, that you give us every good grace from heaven, all strength and the power of your Holy Spirit and heavenly joy to pass through these trials unscathed by the fire, the overwhelming waters, and whatever the enemy throws at us, even if we're hurt in this life, Lord, you are the one who brings us unscathed to the life you've created us for, to be with you forever. So we ask you to be with us tonight and open our hearts, each one of us, oh, Lord, to exactly that which you want to press upon our hearts. We ask this through Christ our Lord, amen, Mary, star of evangelization, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen. It's been a difficult year and a half, hasn't it? It's like we've been taking punch after punch, we're black and blue. If you wake up in the morning feeling pretty good about the day, you know, just start reading the headlines and you'll get depressed again. This tiny particle called a virus has shown the human race just how little we are in control, how fragile we are. And along with that pandemic, we've seen a pandemic of fear that's still going on. We've seen violence and turmoil. We've seen increasingly aggressive pressure to get on board with an agenda that is hostile to the gospel. In the church, we've experienced months of restricted access to the sacraments, things that in almost any generation of Christians has never been seen before except in certain remote parts of the world. Less of not being able to receive the sacraments. We've seen deep divisions among Catholics. We've seen even confusing statements from the Vatican. We've seen the clergy sex abuse crisis seeming to never go away and continually reappearing with new ugly heads. It's like we're in this perfect storm. So much of what we had relied on up to 2020 has turned out to be shaky. And time and again over this past year and a half, the Lord has brought me to this Scripture that is the theme for our conference from Hebrews 12, 26. God says, yet once more I will shake the heavens and the earth. God removes what is shaken that is created things so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for having received an unshakable kingdom. What can be shaken is our government, our finances, our jobs, our plans, our health, even the church. But what cannot be shaken is that unshakable kingdom that Christ died to give us that He emptied Himself and submitted Himself to the most horrendous of humiliating and painful deaths in order to give us that kingdom that can never be taken away, that is already within us now and that one day will be ours in its fullness. That kingdom is unshakable. And one of the great graces of a difficult time, any difficult time, but particularly this church-wide global difficult time that we've been in is that it's when we're stripped of the things we relied on. It's only then that we learn that if we have Him, we have everything. And the Lord is... That's worth clapping for. And the Lord is teaching His people that truth, that if we have Him, we have everything. St. Ignatius, not your one, Father Maconi, the other one, St. Ignatius of Antioch, a godly bishop, an elderly bishop with many decades of illustrious service to the Lord on His way to martyrdom in the arena in Rome in the early second century, wrote letters to the churches as he was traveling to Rome, and in one of his letters he said, now I begin to be a disciple. I mean, the guy who had spent many decades as a bishop, a holy bishop, now I begin to be a disciple. Let fire and cross, flocks of beasts, broken bones, dismemberment come upon me so long as I attain to Jesus Christ. Wow, what fire in the heart of that man. Well, here we are as Catholics 2,000 years later, in the Western world in 2021, we're waking up to the fact, we're beginning to wake up to the fact that we're living in a world very different from the world of 50 years ago, or even 10 years ago, a world where many of the institutions and the culture at large, if not all, at least much of it was basically rooted in the Gospel or in some way still affirm the values of the Gospel, even if it were flawed in many ways, we're waking up to the fact that that's gone. We've returned to a setting more like that, the first and second century church, a small minority in a deeply hostile culture, a culture that is mired in idolatry and sexual immorality, a culture that suppresses the truth about God. And that kind of position of God's people in that kind of setting in history calls for a different posture than that of the church in Christendom, than that of the church in a culture that largely embraces the Gospel, even if it doesn't live it out perfectly. The kind of situation we're in calls for different virtues, a different focus, a different way of conducting ourselves as Christians. And I think the Lord wants us to say, what a privilege it is to live in the times we're in, what a privilege it is because now we have a chance to really become His disciples, like St. Ignatius of Antioch said. No, there are many saints throughout the last 2,000 years that canonized and the non-canonized yet saints who did live incredibly sanctified lives as disciples of Jesus, but we have chances that they didn't have because we are living in such a radically new and unusual situation, perhaps one of the final stages of the Lord's people on earth. We don't know, nobody knows, but that may be the case. And so I've been asking the Lord, what is to be our posture right now as Catholics in the U.S. and in the world in general in 2021 as the darkness deepens around us? What are you asking of us Lord? What is the Spirit saying to the church in our time? And Scripture gives us so much light about this, I'm going to share a little bit of what Scripture teaches and the main thing that the Lord has impressed upon me as I've been praying about, what light does the gospel give us for this time we're in? Is this little phrase from the letter of James, count it all joy, count it all joy my brothers when you meet trials of various kinds for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. There is one quality the early Christians had that confounded the world, that just flummoxed the world that they just could not grasp, it was their joy. They had joy, the joy of salvation in Jesus Christ, the joy of having their sins forgiven, the joy of being brought into the family of God, the joy of seeing sinners convert and lost sons and daughters come home, the joy of amazing close bonds of fellowship with brothers and sisters in the church people they never would have related to before, they had all that joy but what most bewildered and perplexed the world was their joy at persecution for the gospel. Jesus taught that in the Beatitudes in Luke chapter 6 verse 22 Jesus says blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil on account of the Son of Man rejoice in that day and leap for joy for behold your reward is great in heaven. Rejoice and leap for joy. The early Christians took that very seriously. In the Acts of the Apostles there's this marvelous episode when Peter and John are walking into the temple they see a guy lame from birth, he's begging there, he asks for money Peter says I don't have money but what I have I give you in the name of Jesus rise and walk. The guy gets up, he stands up, he walks, he leaps, he comes into the temple a crowd gathers it's this amazing scene everybody's wondering what's going on what kind of magic did they have. Peter says let me tell you it was the name of Jesus and he takes it as an evangelistic moment and he begins to preach the powerful name of Jesus. Well not much delay after that they're hauled before the Sanhedrin and they're told stop speaking in that name stop speaking and teaching in the name of Jesus so guess what they did they went back to the temple and they kept speaking in that name. So they're hauled before the Sanhedrin again and the Sanhedrin say to Peter and the apostles we gave you strict orders did we not to stop teaching in that name isn't that what the world is saying to us today brothers and sisters isn't that what the world is saying to us today with increasing insistence with increasing pressure turning the screws on us stop speaking in that name. Okay you can have your one hour a week of worship on Sunday that's fine we won't bother you but stop speaking in that name in the public square at your job in schools on the street stop teaching that salvation is in Jesus alone stop saying that sexual activity belongs only in marriage according to the teaching of Jesus stop saying that homosexual acts are wrong stop teaching that a man is a man and a woman is a woman just stop stop saying that human life is sacred from conception until natural death stop teaching in that name and if you don't we'll punish you we'll cancel you we'll dox you and it's not an idle threat is it we know either people we know personally or people we have read about who have had threats like that carried out well Peter and the apostles said in reply to that command we must obey God rather than men they put a line in the sand at that point up to that point previously actually they had replied judge for yourselves whether we should obey God or men but at this point they put a line in the sand and they say that's it we cannot obey your commands we've we've been used to obeying your commands all our lives as faithful Jews you're the respected religious leaders of our people but we must obey God rather than men period so what did the Sanhedrin do they beat them that must not have been much fun and they charged them a third time stop speaking in that name and so the apostles left the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name and every day in the temple and from house to house they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ now it's an amazing thing when we read this but in the context in the ancient world we have to realize this is even more amazing because in Greco-Roman society the most important scale of values had to do with honor versus shame what everyone in any kind of position in life strove for their entire life and sacrificed everything for was honor and what every person avoided at all costs was shame and here are the apostles experiencing this tremendous humiliation of being publicly beaten by the religious leaders of their people and they leave rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor it was a paradox that people just couldn't compute back then how incredible that they would rejoice that they were counted worthy to share the dishonor experienced by the Son of God himself who submitted himself to dishonor and humiliation that's the paradox that we see throughout the entire New Testament and the life of the early church now later on in Acts in chapter 16 Paul and Silas were preaching the gospel in Philippi and as they're preaching and converting people after a while that they find this young girl possessed by a fortune telling spirit is following them and she's shouting these men are servants of the Most High God who bring you the way of salvation perfectly orthodox actually but totally disruptive to the work of evangelization but this poor demonized girl was also being cynically exploited by her slave owners who were probably finding her a nice source of revenue and allowing her to do that it was actually an ancient form of trafficking Paul cast out the spirit and set this poor girl free well the owners weren't very happy about that when you cut into the prophets of the culture of death they'll come after you just ask David Deleiden who exposed Planned Parenthood in their sale of Aborted Baby Body Parts they've come after him well back then the owners came after Paul and Silas they brought them before the magistrates and claimed that they were breaking the law and they stirred up a crowd which then savagely attacked Paul and Silas they were beaten with rods and chained up in prison torn and bloody bruised and how did they react they prayed and sang hymns as the other prisoners listened they were rejoicing and thanking and praising God and I love to just picture the other prisoners if you've ever read like the accounts of the the soviet gulag and just horrible prisons in modern times you know what what horrendous demonic places they are you know in prison what people would hear would be groans screams curses but these guys for the first time ever they're hearing songs of praise and their hearts must just have been so moved like what's happening there's something new in the world there's something inexplicable what is this and they were probably listening with all their ears what could explain this and then what happens next God sends an earthquake there's already a spiritual earthquake going on the prisoners are all freed the chains break the jailer is about to kill kill himself Paul says wait don't do that and the end of the story is he gets baptized with his whole household and there's a christian household in Philippi praise God God changes the situation in totally unexpected ways when we rejoice especially in trial and persecution and we sing songs of praise it so confounds the enemy it it so sends the minions of satan at the demons fleeing because they just can't bear to be where God is being praised and thanked and sung to especially in the midst of suffering the demons had to leave i think they had to leave that whole city well years after these experiences that we see recounted in acts of the apostles saint peter wrote this in first peter chapter four verse 12 beloved do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you but rejoice in so far as you share christ sufferings that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed if you are insulted for the name of christ you are blessed because the spirit of glory and of god rests upon you do not be surprised if someone gives you a snide and snarky response on social media because you stood for truth in a charitable way don't be surprised rejoice if you get canceled rejoice if you lose your job because you're being forced to go along with false and destructive ideologies praise and sing to god the spirit of glory and of god rests upon you and if we're following literally what jesus says in the beatitudes rejoice and leap for joy would you all just stand up for a moment many of you at any time in the last year if you haven't been living in a cave this may be the case have any of you been reproached or reviled for being a christian not necessarily by somebody you know personally but on tv or on the internet or in movies or perhaps in person have you been in some way portrayed as hateful bigoted misogynistic crazy neanderthal and anti-science anybody did you leap for joy at the time well then you're long overdue ready lord one more time thank you lord i really think the lord wanted us to do that because i think you know many of us have come here heavy-hearted understandably heavy-hearted it's been a heavy year and a half and i think the lord wants to lift that from us i don't think he wants anybody to leave this place tonight or this conference this weekend heavy-hearted i think he wants to leave us light-hearted and filled with joy because the spirit of glory and of god rests upon us amen now when you encounter that kind of hostility for the gospel and for truth and suffering and trial for standing for the truth it doesn't always look glamorous does it you might not even sometimes be supported or celebrated by the church don't count on that st. Athanasius wasn't when he stood for the divinity of christ and three quarters of the bishops had fallen into the area in heresy st. thomas more wasn't when many of the church men and bishops were willing to go along with king henry the eighth in deciding that he was head of the church in england st. jones of ark wasn't supported by the church when she was put on trial by officials of the english catholic church but a hidden glory rested upon them our ultimate trust is in the lord we love the church we we are loyal to the church we believe in the church it is the church of jesus christ but every once in a while those who represent the church make missteps especially when there's pressure especially when there's very intense pressure of the world against the full proclamation of the truth of the gospel st paul wrote this to carinthians four six to twelve he said god has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of god in the face of christ but we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to god and not to us we are afflicted in every way but not crushed perplexed but not driven to despair persecuted but not forsaken struck down but not destroyed always carrying in the body the death of jesus so that the life of jesus may also be manifested in our bodies when we rejoice in the face of trial and persecution the life of jesus is shining from us it's radiating from us what amazing charity that paul could say you know we we are happy to suffer those things for your sake and for the sake of christ so that his life may be manifested for you and in you we are content to suffer pain persecution mockery even death so that you can come to know the lord paul is saying and he goes on so we do not lose heart though our outer self is wasting away our inner self is being renewed day by day for this light momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison did he say light momentary affliction is this the same paul who wrote in the same letter that he was scourged five times beaten with rods three times shipwrecked stoned adrift at sea persecuted by jews and gentiles and endured cold exposure hunger and sleeplessness sometimes when i travel for the lord too things get rough there have even been times when the delta sky club was closed then the flight was delayed i got a middle seat and the beverage service took a long time i had a headache and i think i can really identify with st paul in his sufferings so when he said light momentary he knew what he was talking about he knew he knew what suffering was like and he said it's light and momentary and it's preparing us for that eternal weight of glory now what gave the early christians disability to rejoice in the face of suffering and trial and persecution well luke actually tells us we see it at the beginning of the acts of the apostles now at the beginning when jesus ascends into heaven right after jesus ascends into heaven at the beginning of acts where are the apostles and the other early christians they're behind locked doors they're locked down aren't they locked doors fearful contributing to their own irrelevance to the world sound familiar no just kidding and yet jesus had said i'm sending you to be my witnesses to the ends of the earth but then he said don't go yet don't go yet i'm sending you to be my witnesses to the ends of the earth but there's one more thing you need in acts one verses four and five he says don't depart from Jerusalem but wait for the promise of the father for john baptized with water but you will be baptized with the holy spirit now to understand fully what jesus meant we have to understand the meaning of that word baptized in ancient greek before it became a christian word and a sacrament baptized was an ordinary word an ordinary verb in daily use anybody know what baptize meant immerse in water or or plunge or dunk in water soak in water that's why when john this guy john was plunging people into the jordan river as a sign of repentance they started calling him john the plunger that's what his name means or john the dunker if you like so that's what that word actually means and and and john said you know i'm plunging you into the water of the jordan river for repentance the one who comes after me is going to plunge you into the very spirit of god and now jesus at the beginning of acts is the same thing you're going to be plunged into dunked in soaked in immersed in inundated with the very power of god the very love of god is going to flood you now there's an interesting artifact from the ancient world that actually helps shed even more light on the word baptize and it's from the second century bc it's in greek and it's actually a recipe for making pickles i kid you not and it uses this word baptize and to make a pickle it says you take the cucumber you first dip it in boiling water and then you baptize it in the vinegar now if i have a cucumber and i i plunge it into the vinegar and then immediately pull it back out do i have a pickle then what do i have to do plunge it there and keep it there until it tastes like a pickle jesus says you're going to be baptized in the holy spirit get it anybody want to taste like the holy spirit you got to be plunged into him and stay there until you're pickled in the holy spirit and that's what jesus is promising them at the beginning of the acts of the apostles you are going to be plunged into pickled in the holy spirit and in chapter two his promises fulfilled on the day of pentecost the holy spirit falls upon them they are plunged into the very love of god the love of god begins to burn in them fear goes out the window and in its place comes holy boldness an incredible boldness to preach the gospel in season out of season whether people accept it or whether people resist it or whether people persecute them this incredible boldness and the reason they have this boldness is because now they get god's plan the whole amazing plan for a crucified messiah for forgiveness of all the sins of the world you know before pentecost when jesus had first told them look i'm gonna die how did peter respond he rebuked him lord no god forbid this will never happen to you it doesn't make any sense to talk about the messiah suffering after the holy spirit came he got it it made sense and he got the love of the father poured into their hearts and he got the fact that jesus christ who is now risen from the dead and ascended into heaven is truly the lord he got it they all got it mary the 12 the 120 men and women mary already knew it but the others got it and they couldn't keep it to themselves and they had to tell the world about it they had to share this overflowing joy that was in them now that the holy spirit had come to dwell in them and so from that day on luke uses this word again and again and again through acts boldness in greek parisia the catechism gives us a beautiful definition it's fearless confidence it's courage it's forthright speech it's it's the confidence of knowing you're a child of god and a little bit later after the the scene where peter and john healed the cripple that i i told you about the layman at the gate of the temple it says now when the sanhedrin saw the boldness of peter and john and perceived that they were uneducated common men the greek words there are a gromatoid idiotae you get the idea yokels these dummies from gallilee when they saw their boldness they were astonished and they recognized that they had been with jesus peter and john had become as bold as lions this this peter who was afraid of a servant girl in the courtyard of the high priest you know this peter who had denied the lord he suddenly had this incredible boldness that they could see that the religious leaders could see this isn't just him there's something more than this this is this is kind of scary we we don't know what's going on that's the kind of boldness god wants to give his people now paradoxically along with that boldness is also another phrase that you luke uses throughout the acts of the apostles and it's fear of the lord fear of the lord now fear and boldness don't seem to go together very well but they do luke says in acts 931 the church throughout all judia and gallilee and samaria had peace and was built up and was walking in the fear of the lord and the comfort of the holy spirit and it was multiplied now if walking in the fear of the lord and the comfort of the holy spirit sounds like an oxymoron or contradiction is because we don't really have a biblical understanding of fear of the lord fear of the lord is a gift you know it's one of the seven gifts of the holy spirit right it's that right attitude of holy awe it's not a a servile fear that makes us terrified of when god might punish us next you know like the fear of an abusive father no it's the opposite of that it's it's a holy reverent fear that we love god so much we would rather die than offend him that's the fear of the lord that they experienced right along with the comforts a consolation of the holy spirit that's a virtue we need today it's a gift of the holy spirit we need today because how many catholics and other christians today are being more swayed by fear of men than by fear of the lord the letter of james whom i quoted at the beginning also says this do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with god therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of god people make themselves a friend of the world when they operate out of fear of man fear of getting canceled fear of getting mocked fear of being considered marginal and unimportant not getting a place at the the table of the movers and shakers in society the early christians were moved by fear of the lord given to them by the holy spirit along with holy boldness and that gave them the courage to rejoice in the face of persecution now it's important to avoid a possible possible misunderstanding of jesus's call to rejoice in persecution jesus did not call christians to be doormats nor did he tell us to go looking for persecution he didn't say if they persecute you in one town stay there and get killed he said if they persecute you in one town flee to the next and that's exactly what st paul did he followed that to the letter he preached the gospel in philipi and as i told you about he got imprisoned then he got chased out of town and he went to thessalonica he preached the gospel there he got chased out of town and he went to baria and the agitation began there again and he went off to athens and by god's methods the gospel spread way faster than it ever would have otherwise praise god jesus also did not tell us simply to lie down in the face of injustice and mistreatment he didn't say you are the doormats of the world and the pushovers of the earth he didn't say that injustice needs to be called out for what it is in fact jesus himself gave it gave an example of that in his trial his own trial before the sanhedrin when one of the officers struck him jesus didn't say okay here's my other cheek he answered if i have spoken wrongly bear witness to the wrong but if i have spoken rightly why do you strike me he's calling out that unjust act peter before the sanhedrin in ax chapter four again after the healing of the lame man by the temple gate filled with the holy spirit said to them rulers of the people and elders if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a cripple by what means this man has been healed let it be known to you that it was by the name of jesus of nazareth but he's pointing out to them the gross injustice of putting them on trial for a good deed for healing a crippled man st paul didn't hesitate to invoke his roman citizenship when it would help him continue to preach the gospel after he and sylas had gotten beaten and imprisoned in filipai and then there was the earthquake in the conversion of the jailer then the next morning the city magistrate said okay we're letting you go we want you to just leave quietly paul said uh-uh they've beaten us publicly uncondemned men who are roman citizens and have thrown us into prison and now do they throw us out secretly no let them come themselves and take us out wow public officials need to be held accountable for their miscarriages of justice that's part of our role in in bearing witness to the gospel i want to tell you an example of that that has so inspired me over the years my friend neole sadunite grew up in lithuania which was taken over by the soviet union in 1944 they imposed state atheism on this deeply catholic country and as a young woman neole was involved in what is called samas dot self-published literature or resistance literature and she was involved in an underground national catholic newspaper that gave great encouragement to many people during this time of terrible persecution she was eventually arrested and imprisoned and she confounded her kgb guards because she kept smiling all the time and they just didn't know what to make of this young woman who didn't stop smiling and in one of her interrogation sessions the kgb officer promised her just give us one statement disclosing the names of your collaborators and we'll let you go home she said to him if you gave me eternal youth and all the beautiful things in the world for one statement that would cause trouble meaning to my friends then those years would turn into hell for me even if you kept me in the psychiatric hospital all my life as long as i knew that no one had suffered on my account i would go around smiling a clear conscience is more precious than liberty or life i do not understand how you whose conscience is burdened by the spilled blood and tears of so many innocent people can sleep at night i would agree to die a thousand times rather than be free for one second with your conscience and this seasoned this seasoned kgb agent hearing these words from a helpless young woman who's completely under his control actually blanched and hung his head there's power in the truth when he's spoken now nihole uh was eventually sentenced uh condemned and sentenced to exile in cyberia she spent many years there she was able to return to her country when the iron curtain fell and probably not many people know that she actually spent a year here in stubenville learning english and she lived with my parents right here and i think she took a class or two here at at stubenville when i saw her a couple of years ago in lithuania she had completely forgotten all her english but she's a national hero in that country because of her courageous stand for the faith another hero of the faith for me is actually a former member of the board and a recipient of an honorary doctorate of this university her name is dr alice von hildebrand way back in 1988 i went dr von hildebrand invited me to attend a lecture with her on biblical interpretation in new york city given by none other than cardinal joseph rotsinger prefect of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith and his lecture became famous famous lecture on biblical interpretation but what most people don't know is that a sabotage occurred in the middle of it because the congregation for the doctrine of the faith had recently published a document called pastoral care of homosexual persons upholding church teaching on treating homosexual persons like everyone with respect and dignity but also reaffirming the church's constant teaching and scriptures teaching that homosexual acts are wrong and contrary to the will of god well little did anyone know that activists had planted themselves throughout the audience and in the middle of this erudite lecture on biblical interpretation these activists all stood up on cue and began shouting at him they they all held up pink triangles and they began shouting and as i looked around i saw the audience froze and it was it was my first and only thankfully direct experience of bullying in a crowd situation where there was a palpable fear throughout the room and and a paralysis you didn't know what to do and and the security people were clearly caught off guard they they did nothing and so this went on for a number of minutes and cardinal rotsinger gently tried to restart his his talk and it and they weren't letting him get a word in edgewise everybody was completely frozen except one 90 pound woman of twisted steel sitting next to me her husband detrick von hildebrand had stood up to the nazis in the 1940s he had spoken out more courageously and bravely than almost anyone else and he was at one point on their top hit list of those they needed to get rid of thankfully he escaped out of the country but she was like her husband and so she alone of the audience stood up it's like she broke the spell and she stood up and she began rebuking those who were interrupting the cardinal in his lecture and saying you need to give him a chance to speak shame on you and eventually the security were able to remove the people from the room and and cardinal rotsinger actually went on with incredible serenity and aplomb it was amazing but i learned something that day about the the the effect of bullying on a mob when fear is created and people get paralyzed into silence but how even one person standing up with courage can break that atmosphere and change the situation just like cardinal rotsinger did in that document of the cdf bearing witness to the truth of the gospel includes bearing witness to the full truth of god's revelation including those parts of it that are most unpopular in one's own time and culture and for us that is undoubtedly the truth of human beings created in god's image as male and female with god's beautiful design for sexuality and marriage why was john the baptist martyred a celibate because he stood for the truth about marriage why was saint thomas more martyred saint john fischer because they stood for the truth about marriage you could even add those who stood for not giving in to pressure to disobey god's commands about sexuality and marriage like the martyrs of uganda or a martyr like saint maria garedi but today we have people who have been standing up with courage as well tanner cross is a gym teacher in virginia who spoke at a school board meeting explaining why he could not adhere to a new policy requiring him to refer to transgender students by their preferred pronouns he spoke calmly and respectfully he said i love all my students but i will never lie to them regardless of the consequences i'm a teacher but i serve god first and i will not affirm that a biological boy can be a girl and vice versa it's lying to a child it's abuse to a child and it's sinning against our god and for the crime of saying that yeah praise god for tanner cross for the crime of saying that he was suspended from his teaching position jack phillips of masterpiece cake shop has stood for the truth of the gospel and paid the price his persecution began in 2012 with a lawsuit over his refusal to make a wedding cake celebrating a gay marriage he did not refuse service to anyone he treated all his customers with respect but he did refuse to endorse a message contrary to what he believed and contrary to the truth about marriage finally in 2018 he won a partially won a case before the supreme court but in the meantime he got hundreds of requests from activists to make more wedding cakes with a or cakes with offensive messages many with an intent to set him up he's now on his third lawsuit and he is standing firm and tall for jesus christ and we need to support and thank those who are taking a stand like that so coming back to what james said count it all joy my brothers when you meet trials of various kinds for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness faith becomes what it truly is when it's tested like st. Ignatius of Antioch said i'm going to truly be a disciple now because i'm going to be tested like i never have before it's one thing to say i believe when all society is basically supporting you it's another thing to say i believe when government big tech schools media basically the whole society is aligned against you then is when faith becomes more precious than gold and for us and for our children there may be yet more testing coming down the road it certainly looks that way and it may be that the words that pope john paul the second is said to have spoken in full to germany in 1980 might prove true he said this we must prepare ourselves to suffer great trials before long such as will demand of us a disposition to give up even life and a total dedication to christ and for christ with your and my prayer it is possible to mitigate this tribulation but it is no longer possible to avert it because only thus can the church be effectively renewed how many times has the renewal of the church sprung from blood he said this time too it will not be otherwise we must be strong and prepared and trust in christ and his mother and be very assiduous in praying the rosary and i want to just end by looking at how the church responded as a whole after peter and john had been arrested after they had healed the lame man at the gate of the temple they gathered a pray and notice how they pray in fact why don't we all stand up they pray oh lord keep us safe no they didn't pray that oh lord please help us not to offend anybody please help us not to say anything that will stand out so much that anybody will even say they're offended lord no they didn't pray that this is what they prayed and now lord look upon their threats look upon the threats of this secular culture in 2021 where so many forces are arrayed against god's people and against the full truth of the gospel and grant your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness notice they're actually praying for more of what got them in trouble in the first place while you lord stretch out your hand to heal and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant jesus lord we pray for that we pray oh lord that you would grant all of us each one of us in the the place the sphere of influence that you have us a holy boldness oh lord a charity with clarity oh lord a a respectful kindness and yet a clarity in speaking the truth the full truth of the beautiful plan you have for human beings for marriage for sexuality for jesus christ is the one savior of the world and father give us your holy spirit fill us oh lord with a spirit that motivated the early christians and gave them that ability to rejoice even when they were reviled and suffered for the sake of your name and we thank you lord that we have the privilege of being persecuted even if it's in a relatively minor way in our time because we know that that they are all up there in the the heavenly stands cheering us on as our fans and and just praying for us as we run the race with perseverance until we cross the finish line and we are with you together with all the saints forever in jesus's name amen amen god bless you