TWELFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
21 JUNE 2020
Our
readings from the Gospel of Saint Matthew resume again this Sunday. To understand today’s passage; we need to
recall the passage immediately preceding it.
Jesus has sent out his disciples to proclaim that the Kingdom of heaven
is at hand. He told them not to take much
stuff with them. They would show signs
of that kingdom by curing the sick, raising the dead, cleansing lepers, and
driving out demons. But in sending them
out, he also warned them that they would face opposition. He did not sugar coat his message or make
false promises about their success. He warned
that they would be rejected, much as Jeremiah had been rejected for speaking
the truth, and much as he himself would be rejected and killed.
Today, he tells them not to be
afraid. He knows that the values of the
Kingdom of heaven will collide directly with greed, the desire for power and
wealth, and the need for revenge. By the
time Saint Matthew had written this Gospel, many disciples had been thrown out
of synagogues, separated from their families, and some of them killed. Yet, Jesus tells them not to be afraid. His Father loves them so intimately that he
counts the number of hairs on their heads.
While tyrants have power to kill the body, they have no power to kill
the soul.
Saint Paul
explains this dynamic in his letter to the Romans. He contrasts the sin of Adam with the
redemption won by Jesus Christ. Saint
Paul defines death as separation. Adam
caused separation from God and brought death into the world by disobeying and
refusing to trust in God’s love. Jesus is
the new Adam who has destroyed death by entering physical death and restoring
us to intimate union with the Father. There
is no death for those who keep their baptismal promises and remain united with
Jesus Christ.
Jesus gives
this same message to us, his disciples.
He sends us out to proclaim that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. He knows that we will not always be met with
success. If we boldly proclaim the
message that the human person deserves respect, whether in the womb or in the
person of someone of color, we will know resistance and rejection. That is what happened to the prophet
Jeremiah. He has the courage to tell the
truth to his people that they had not been faithful to the Covenant. As they cling to their conviction that the
temple in Jerusalem will save them, he insists that they face destruction by
the Babylonians. For telling the truth,
he is labeled an enemy of the kingdom and is treated horribly. After crying out his lament at his unjust
treatment, he insists that the Lord is with him as a mighty champion.
In these
difficult days, as we emerge gradually from our confinement, we need to trust
that the Lord is with us as a mighty champion.
In the midst of divisions and arguments about how we should proceed, he
strengthens us to proclaim the light of the Gospel. We have learned through this ordeal that our
families and relationships are the most important qualities of our lives. They reveal to us the Kingdom of heaven. One of our parishioners wrote a beautiful
commentary about how the shelter in place made him more aware of his role as
husband and father to two children. His
message is in my bulletin column. Fathers, be sure to read it today. In keeping these priorities, we need not be
afraid. Dorothy Day trusted that God
would remain a mighty champion in the 1930’s, when she faced withering
criticism for opening the first Catholic Worker house and publishing her
periodical, The Catholic Worker. Karol Wojtyla was educated in a secret
seminary when the Nazis controlled Poland.
He served his priesthood and episcopate under Communist domination. He fearlessly proclaimed the Gospel in those
conditions. When he was elected Pope as
John Paul II, his first words were “Do not be afraid.” Because the Lord loves each of us, we can proclaim
the Kingdom of heaven without fear.
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