The world is completely against Jesus Christ, and therefore, hating Jesus Christ, it hates all His servants. Therefore, Our Lord encouraged His disciples to suffer in peace the persecutions of the world, saying to them that, having given up the world, they could not but be hated by the world. 'You are not of the world . . . therefore the world hateth you'" (John 15:19). St. Alphonsus Liguori