May they only persecute us because we hate vice and love virtue.
August 2, 2025•129 words
May they only persecute us because we hate vice and love virtue. We seek and pursue the light; they avoid it. We flee the darkness; they pursue it. Let us conduct ourselves so well that they may only hate us because we do not want to be like them and because they cannot bear the light of God which is in us. It reveals all their filth and impurities, just like the sun drives away the darkness and the obscurity of the night (John 3:19–21). As we make sure that we give our enemies no opportunities to attack us, let us not be like those who are so wise that they refuse to suffer for Jesus Christ and His Church.
—Pierre Viret, 'Letter of Consolation' (trans. Christian Fantoni), 42.