Fullerton T

12th SUNDAY ORDINARY TIME

This weekend our gospel story tells us not to be afraid but for many they are scared and afraid as we come out of lockdown after the last 12 weeks. It is certainly true that life will be changed not ended for all of us as we come out from the lockdown in the coming weeks.  The Gospel message is quite simple Jesus tells us not to be afraid  He does not disguise the truth that his disciples and all of us will be confronted by those who threaten, bully and intimidate others into submissive agreement.  In the first reading Jeremiah refuses to be intimidated by terror from every side. That doesn’t mean that the terror doesn’t get to him it means that he has no intention of allowing the terror to write his script and dictate who he is. Jeremiah has been abandoned by all his friends who now try to discredit him. He is thrown into prison for his preaching, and the army council threatens him with death if he doesn’t change his tune.

But Jeremiah refuses to be bullied into agreement because he believes that “the Lord is at his side, a mighty hero”. What keeps Jeremiah sane amidst all this persecution is the profound belief that God cares for him. And, less spiritually, the frank hope that God will clobber all his enemies in good time! Not only does Jesus want his disciples to refuse to submit to the merchants of death, he tells them not to be afraid of them: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.” What our Lord said to His Apostles applies to all Christians including you and me in the practice of our faith. By the very fact of living our faith day and daily openly and fully we are apostles especially during these weeks of the pandemic when we cannot be together as the Church. So today we think of all of those who have given us an example by living their lives in faith in difficult circumstances. These may be parents family members or people we have known we all have people who have shown us the way of faith.

So as faith filled people Jesus teaches us that our only source of freedom and strength is the goodness of our heavenly Father a goodness that is mediated through Jesus himself as well as through good people and beautiful flowers. Furthermore, the discovery of this goodness carries with it the solemn obligation to pass on one’s blessings through concern for others. We must look for the goodness in life and learn to count our blessings as we pass them on to other people. As we emerge from our lockdown there are many things that are changed or will be changing but we stop and thank God for all that we have and all the blessings that have come to us over the last 3 months of lockdown. We also remember all the families out there who have lost family members during the lockdown that God may console them at this time. May be people of courage in the days and months ahead as we remember the words of Jesus when he told us do be not be afraid.