Matthew 10:22-25
Jesus said to the Twelve you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel, before the Son of man comes.
“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master; it is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Be-el′zebul, how much more will they malign those of his household.
What do the Fathers say?
St John CHRYSOSTOM. You shall be hated of all men; but whosoever shall endure to the end, he shall be saved. For many are hot and zealous in the beginning, but afterwards grow cool, for these, He says, I look at the end. For where is the profit in seeds that only sprout at first? when He requires sufficient endurance from them.
St JEROME. For virtue is not to begin but to complete.
They should not fear, but may shun persecution. This we see the believers did in the beginning, when on a persecution arising in Jerusalem they were scattered throughout all Judea, and thus the season of tribulation was made the seedtime of the Gospel.
Spiritually we may say; however contentious the adversary may be, protection will come from the Saviour before the victory is yielded to the enemy.
St RABANUS. He foretells that they shall not have brought all the cities of Israel to the faith by their preaching, before the Lord’s resurrection be accomplished, and a commission given them to preach the Gospel throughout the world.
St AUGUSTINE. Let the servants of Christ then do as He commanded, or permitted them; as He fled into Egypt, let them fly from city to city, whenever any of them is marked out for persecution; so that the Church may not be deserted,
But when the threatening danger is common to all, Bishops, clergy, and laity, let not those who have need of aid be deserted by those whose aid they require. Either therefore let them all pass to some stronghold, or let those who are obliged to remain, not be deserted by those whose province it is to supply their ecclesiastical needs; so that they may either all live, or all suffer whatever their Master will have them to suffer.
St REMIGIUS. Be it known moreover, that as this precept respecting endurance under persecution specially belongs to the Apostles and their successors, men of fortitude, so the permission to fly is sufficiently proper for the weak in the faith, to whom the tender Master condescends, lest if they should offer themselves for martyrdom, under the pain they should deny the faith; and the sin of flight is lighter than that of denial.
St ATHANASIUS. (who lived his life according to today’s Gospel Reading) – For if it be a bad thing to flee, it is much worse to persecute; for the one party hides himself to escape death, the other persecutes with a desire to kill; and it is written in the Scriptures that we ought to flee; but he that seeks to destroy transgresses the law, nay, and is himself the occasion of the other’s flight.
If then they reproach me with my flight, let them be more ashamed of their own persecution. Let them cease to conspire, and they who flee will immediately cease to do so. But they, instead of giving over their wickedness, are employing every means to obtain possession of my person, not perceiving that the flight of those who are persecuted is a strong argument against those who persecute. For no man flees from the gentle and the humane, but from the cruel and the evil-minded. – Apologia de Fuga
Sources:
Bible readings from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Second Catholic Edition, copyright © 2006 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
Quotes of the Fathers from Thomas Aquinas’ Catena Aurea Translated by St John Henry Newman
St Athanasius’ quote from Apologia de Fuga on Newadvent.org
Artwork ex Wikimedia Commons