28.11.24 Mencari Cahaya di Tengah Kegelapan

Wednesday last week in ordinary time "Lk 21:12-19" Jesus said, "they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake. This will be a time for you to bear testimony...You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and kinsmen and friends, and some of you they will put to death; you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives." There is a time for testimony and when it comes, the disciples of Jesus have to be steadfast. Jesus warned about difficulties but also promised His assistance. Rather than try to hide away when our time for testimony comes, all Jesus asks of us is to 1) trust Him: "not a hair of your head will perish"; and 2) not give up: "By your endurance you will gain your lives." That's the example we have received from the Apostles, from martyrs, confessors, popes, bishops and priests and millions of lay people as well; saints who never flinched, never hesitated, never took a step back. Jesus asked His disciples for perseverance and Christians have always tried to be faithful. The Hill of Crosses in northern Lithuania, for instance, has come to signify the peaceful endurance of Lithuanian Catholicism despite the repeated threats it faced over time. When the country rebelled against the Russian Empire and families couldn't locate and bury the bodies of their deceased, they decided to put crosses on that Hill. During the years 1944 -1990 Lithuania was occupied again by the Soviet Union. The Soviets worked hard to remove new crosses and bulldozed the site several times. At night Lithuanian people would come, replace them and add a few more. There were 50 crosses at the beginning of the last century. In 1990, when Lithuania became independent from the Soviet Union, there were 55,000 crosses. Today there are more than 400,000. A memorial plaque inscribed with the words of St John Paul II reads: "Thank you, Lithuanians, for this Hill of Crosses which testifies to the nations of Europe and to the whole world the faith of the people of this land." Holy Mary, Help of Christians, through your intercession and the intercession of the Holy Souls - for whom I pray now - may we always trust God and never give up.