Peter's anxious question to Jesus seeking assurance for the disciples who had left everything to follow Jesus is met by a promise that they would be taken of. Yet almost hidden within the promise of repayment a hundred times over, there is also the mention of persecution. This was most certainly the experience of the early church as she encountered opposition in being faithful to the mission entrusted by the Lord.

While Jesus promised repayment now and in the world to come, the absence of suffering was not part of the bargain. Just as Jesus suffered, His disciples in every age will have to encounter suffering and the Cross but we move not in our own strength but in the power of the Resurrection.

Going back to Peter's question, it seems to betray an attachment to the things of this world - yet we are called to be different, in fact holy! This means that we are set apart from others, not in the sense that we are any better than they are, but rather that our whole orientation be towards God. Thus we need to free our minds from all that holds us back and put total trust in God's grace - which is sufficient in dealing with whatever we may come up against.