“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.” Matthew 5:11
February 4, 2026
“What it means to follow Christ in Cameroon.” Christians in this west African nation pay the price for belonging to Christ. . . Christians living along the Nigerian border have repeated, brutal attacks by Boko Haram. In these villages 50 to 80 miles from the border, men, women and children are attacked simply for being known as Christians (The Voice of the Martyrs). This kind of persecution has not come to believers in America, but it may. This last beatitude (repeated twice) challenges contemporary errors in the Church: That Christianity delivers from suffering, that God loves His children too much to be abused and suffer, that it is God’s will for us to live well and free of pain, that suffering is always for sin, that suffering is a sign of God’s anger, that suffering can separate us from Christ. Are we prepared for the trials of rejection and social hostility because of our beliefs in Christ?
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Reflection:
Am I able to live joyfully when I am ostracized because I am a Christian?
Do I pray regularly for my brothers and sisters in Christ who live as persecuted minorities in other countries?