Jesus said to his disciples: 
“If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first.
If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own;
but because you do not belong to the world,
and I have chosen you out of the world,
the world hates you.
Remember the word I spoke to you,
‘No slave is greater than his master.’
If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.
(Jn 15:18-21)

When we were kids, we never wanted to be the last one chosen, much less the one nobody wanted. Being chosen by the Lord carries with it other risks. Or as the shortest sermon I ever heard in seminary said about this particular passage: “Why is it that nobody hates us anymore?” After asking the question, the young student preacher sat down to stunned silence. Today's photo is of the ambo (the pulpit) of Saint Meinrad Abbey Church.