Homily OT (A) 12th Sunday - Do Not Fear Those Who Kill the Body

Core Message:

FOR THE MIND: What do I want them to KNOW?

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FOR THE HEART: What do I want them to FEEL?

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I. Introduction

Subtitle

I think I know why you all invited a visiting priest today.

The Gospel is extremely challenging today.

Jesus says: whoever denies me before others,

I will deny before my heavenly Father.

The Catechism comments this verse saying,

Service of and witness to the faith are NECESSARY FOR SALVATION.

If we reject Jesus and his teachings, we close the door of paradise to ourselves.

Thankfully, there is a positive side too:

Everyone who acknowledges me before others

I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father.

… So do not be afraid.

If we bear witness to Jesus and his teachings, he will open the doors of paradise to us.

II. Body

Subtitle

Point 1 goes here

III. Conclusion

Subtitle

My conclusion goes here

Readings

94. TWELFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME A

FIRST READING

He has rescued the life of the poor from the power of the wicked.

A reading from the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah (20:10–13)

Jeremiah said:

“I hear the whisperings of many:

‘Terror on every side!

Denounce! let us denounce him!’

All those who were my friends

are on the watch for any misstep of mine.

‘Perhaps he will be trapped; then we can prevail,

and take our vengeance on him.’

But the Lord is with me, like a mighty champion:

my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph.

In their failure they will be put to utter shame,

to lasting, unforgettable confusion.

O Lord of hosts, you who test the just,

who probe mind and heart,

let me witness the vengeance you take on them,

for to you I have entrusted my cause.

Sing to the Lord,

praise the Lord,

for he has rescued the life of the poor

from the power of the wicked!”

The word of the Lord.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM (Ps 69:8–10, 14, 17, 33–35)

℟. (14c) Lord, in your great love, answer me.

For your sake I bear insult,

and shame covers my face.

I have become an outcast to my brothers,

a stranger to my children,

Because zeal for your house consumes me,

and the insults of those who blaspheme you fall upon me.

℟. Lord, in your great love, answer me.

I pray to you, O Lord,

for the time of your favor, O God!

In your great kindness answer me

with your constant help.

Answer me, O Lord, for bounteous is your kindness;

in your great mercy turn toward me.

℟. Lord, in your great love, answer me.

“See, you lowly ones, and be glad;

you who seek God, may your hearts revive!

For the Lord hears the poor,

and his own who are in bonds he spurns not.

Let the heavens and the earth praise him,

the seas and whatever moves in them!”

℟. Lord, in your great love, answer me.

SECOND READING

The gift is not like the transgression.

A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans (5:12–15)

Brothers and sisters:

Through one man sin entered the world,

and through sin, death,

and thus death came to all men, inasmuch as all sinned—

for up to the time of the law, sin was in the world,

though sin is not accounted when there is no law.

But death reigned from Adam to Moses,

even over those who did not sin

after the pattern of the trespass of Adam,

who is the type of the one who was to come.

But the gift is not like the transgression.

For if by the transgression of the one the many died,

how much more did the grace of God

and the gracious gift of the one man Jesus Christ

overflow for the many.

The word of the Lord.

ALLELUIA (Jn 15:26b, 27a)

℟. Alleluia, alleluia.

The Spirit of truth will testify to me, says the Lord;

and you also will testify.

℟. Alleluia, alleluia.

GOSPEL

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body.

+ A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (10:26–33)

Jesus said to the Twelve:

“Fear no one.

Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed,

nor secret that will not be known.

What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light;

what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.

And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul;

rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy

both soul and body in Gehenna.

Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin?

Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge.

Even all the hairs of your head are counted.

So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Everyone who acknowledges me before others

I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father.

But whoever denies me before others,

I will deny before my heavenly Father.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

Missal

TWELFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Entrance Antiphon [Cf. Ps 28 (27):8–9]

The Lord is the strength of his people,

a saving refuge for the one he has anointed.

Save your people, Lord, and bless your heritage,

and govern them for ever.

Collect

Grant, O Lord,

that we may always revere and love your holy name,

for you never deprive of your guidance

those you set firm on the foundation of your love.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

Prayer over the Offerings

Receive, O Lord, the sacrifice of conciliation and praise

and grant that, cleansed by its action,

we may make offering of a heart pleasing to you.

Through Christ our Lord.

Communion Antiphon [Ps 145 (144):15]

The eyes of all look to you, Lord,

and you give them their food in due season.

Or: [Jn 10:11, 15]

I am the Good Shepherd,

and I lay down my life for my sheep, says the Lord.

Prayer after Communion

Renewed and nourished

by the Sacred Body and Precious Blood of your Son,

we ask of your mercy, O Lord,

that what we celebrate with constant devotion

may be our sure pledge of redemption.

Through Christ our Lord.

CCC

Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time

CCC 852: the Spirit of Christ sustains the Christian mission

852 Missionary paths. The Holy Spirit is the protagonist, “the principal agent of the whole of the Church’s mission.” It is he who leads the Church on her missionary paths. “This mission continues and, in the course of history, unfolds the mission of Christ, who was sent to evangelize the poor; so the Church, urged on by the Spirit of Christ, must walk the road Christ himself walked, a way of poverty and obedience, of service and self-sacrifice even to death, a death from which he emerged victorious by his resurrection.” So it is that “the blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians.”

CCC 905: evangelizing by the example of life CCC 1808, 1816: courageous witness of faith overcomes fear and death

1808 Fortitude is the moral virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good. It strengthens the resolve to resist temptations and to overcome obstacles in the moral life. The virtue of fortitude enables one to conquer fear, even fear of death, and to face trials and persecutions. It disposes one even to renounce and sacrifice his life in defense of a just cause. “The Lord is my strength and my song.” “In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”71 (2848; 2473)

1816 The disciple of Christ must not only keep the faith and live on it, but also profess it, confidently bear witness to it, and spread it: “All however must be prepared to confess Christ before men and to follow him along the way of the Cross, amidst the persecutions which the Church never lacks.” Service of and witness to the faith are necessary for salvation: “So every one who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.” (2471)

CCC 2471-2474: bear witness to the truth CCC 359, 402-411, 615: Adam, Original Sin, Christ the New Adam

Notes

Scott Hahn Homily Help

Our commitment to Christ will be put to the test.

We will hear whispered warnings and denunciations, as Jeremiah does in today’s First Reading. Even so-called friends will try to trap and trip us up.

For His sake we will bear insults and be made outcasts—even in our own homes, we hear in today’s Psalm.

As Jeremiah tells us, we must expect that God will challenge our faith in Him, and probe our minds and hearts, to test the depths of our love.

“Do not be afraid,” Jesus assures us three times in today’s Gospel.

Though He may permit us to suffer for our faith, our Father will never forget or abandon us. As Jesus assures us today, everything unfolds in His Providence, under His watchful gaze—even the falling of the tiniest sparrow to the ground. Each one of us is precious to Him.

Steadfast in this faith, we must resist the tactics of Satan. He is the enemy who seeks the ruin of our soul in Gehenna, or hell.

We are to seek God, as the Psalmist says. Zeal for the Lord’s house, for the heavenly kingdom of the Father, should consume us, as it consumed Jesus (see Jn 2:17). As Jesus bore the insults of those who blasphemed God, so should we (see Rm 15:3).

By the gracious gift of himself, Jesus bore the transgressions of the world, Paul tells us in today’s Epistle. In rising from the dead, He has shown us that God rescues the life of the poor, that He does not spurn His own when they are in distress. In His great mercy, He will turn toward us, as well. He will deliver us from the power of the wicked.

That is why we proclaim His name from the housetops, as Jesus tells us. That is why we sing praise and offer thanksgiving in every Eucharist. We are confident in Jesus’ promise—that we who declare our faith in Him before others will be remembered before our heavenly Father.