June 25th 2023. Twelfth Sunday of the Year
GOSPEL: Matthew 10, 26-33
Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio
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Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...
GOSPEL: Matthew 10, 26-33
Jesus instructed the Twelve as follows: ‘Do not be afraid of them therefore. For everything that is now covered will be uncovered, and everything now hidden will be made clear. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the daylight; what you hear in whispers, proclaim from the housetops.
‘Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; fear him rather who can destroy both body and soul in hell. Can you not buy two sparrows for a penny? And yet not one falls to the ground without your Father knowing. Why, every hair on your head has been counted. So there is no need to be afraid; you are worth more than hundreds of sparrows.
‘So if anyone declares himself for me in the presence of men, I will declare myself for him in the presence of my Father in heaven. But the one who disowns me in the presence of men, I will disown in the presence of my Father in heaven.
The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ
1. Fear is the key. If we fear people, then the word of God does not come to fruition in us. Between the moment of being fertilised by the word of God in our hearts, and the visible manifestation of the word in our lives, the process is often interrupted by our fear of the opinions of others.
The first reading recounts the dramatic events of the life of Jeremiah. He is called to say things that are unpleasant and unpopular. The truth is often unpopular! He who lives for popularity is often a hypocrite. As Christians, we too run the risk of paying too much attention to our audience and not enough on the truth. In order to avoid this tendency of living for vainglory, we must be led out of the slavery of fear. In fact, Jesus’s opening words in Sunday’s Gospel are: “Do not fear men.” This is the key! If we have fear of people, then we end up living as hypocrites, living a double life, one life that is public and another life that is hidden. It is normal that Christianity has a hidden inner part. The word of God is spoken to our hearts, in an internal room, then gradually it becomes visible. If it does not become visible, then it is not real. If it does not become concrete, then it was not fertile. There is a journey to be undertaken between the moment that the heart was touched by a beautiful word (that caused it to want to follow Christ) and the moment in which the word bears visible fruit. The journey can be interrupted by fear, fear of incurring the wrath of others. The fear of disappointing those around us is one of the most common elements that brings out human ugliness. Herod goes ahead and kills John the Baptist out of the fear of losing face in front of guests at a banquet, even though he had already intuited the importance of John. When we try to satisfy our companions of life, we become shadows of ourselves. In order to get a laugh from them, or a good reaction, we become scarecrows who live a life inferior to that to which we have been called.
2. There are many people who are obsessed with the care of their bodies but who radically neglect the soul. They go to great lengths to enjoy the pleasures of the body but do not know the pleasures of the soul. The pleasures of the soul are more intense, more profound and more long-lasting.
What must we do? We must stop fearing those who can kill the body. This Gospel presents us with a dichotomy: which is more important, to kill the body or to kill the soul? What use is my body if I lose my soul? Jesus will say elsewhere that I gain nothing if I win the whole world and lose my soul. A body without soul is an inconsistent and superficial life. This Gospel calls on us to conserve and nurture integrally the life of the soul, the heart, that which is central. There are many people who are obsessed with the care of their bodies but who radically neglect the soul. They go to great lengths to enjoy the pleasures of the body but do not know the pleasures of the soul. The pleasures of the soul are more intense, more profound and more long-lasting.
3. The present generation has a very intense anxiety for recognition. What we need to do is to reverse this situation: in order to realize that we are cherished and recognized, held valuable, we must recognize God as our Father.
How do we live this harmony between the body and the soul? We must recognize who we are in the eyes of God. We must recognize who the Father is and who we are for him. The present generation has a very intense anxiety for recognition. What we need to do is to reverse this situation: in order to realize that we are cherished and recognized, held valuable, we must recognize God as our Father. This leads to our freedom, because we know that we are held dear by our heavenly Father. Recall St Francis of Assisi: in front of his own father, he recognized the Fatherhood of God, and in so doing he became an enormous gift of grace for the entire Church and all of humanity. In recognizing our only true Father, we can all become gifts for humanity. But to do this, we must disobey our fear for the body. Let us enter into a covenant with the Lord on this point, that we will place our priority on the care of our souls, and then, secondarily, manage the body. The point of departure must be our soul, not our body, this is wisdom for a life that is beautiful and true.
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