Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time
When my niece was two years old, she was afraid to step onto the elevator in the Abbey’s guesthouse. I reacted with confusion, but my sister-in-law rolled her eyes as she explained to me that my niece was afraid of falling through the one-inch gap between the floor and the elevator. So, to get her onboard, we had to help her by picking her up, carrying her over the gap, and placing her on the elevator. Then she was just fine…until it was time to get off the elevator.
We all have fears. You may have other fears that you eventually outgrew, and maybe even stranger ones than my niece’s. Fear can be a very crippling reality in our lives. It can paralyze us from doing what we want to do and what we know we should do. Especially when it is related to how we live our faith and what we believe, fear can keep our faith hidden or trapped inside where it has little opportunity to grow. Many Catholics I know are afraid of expressing their faith outside of Church: afraid of praying in public and making the sign of the cross, afraid of expressing their moral values and beliefs especially when opportunities arise with coworkers and friends. Why can we be so courageous in some aspects of our lives, making great sacrifices of time and energy, but we are so afraid of what people might think of us if we are religious or firm in our faith?
Jesus said it rather directly: “Fear no one.” No one. Not what people might say about you or what they might think. Eventually, the truth will come out about all things, and we will stand in truth before God and have to give an account to God, not to others. In the meantime, Jesus seems to assure us that we should trust in God’s providence. “Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin?” Yet Jesus says, “…Do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”
Our call is to acknowledge the Father in all circumstances and to know how precious and beloved we are in His eyes. If we can trust in the Father, we can learn to let go of fear.
Trappist Monk and author Dom Eugene Boylon reflected on the personal love and relationship that Jesus wants with all of us. He believed that every single Christian soul should be able to say with conviction that, “During every moment of His life Jesus thought of me, and loved me, and in all His sufferings He had my needs in His mind… He knew that He had done and suffered more than a hundred times enough to make me holy, to make me a saint…” He continued: “But Jesus also saw clearly that the only obstacle to the achievement of His cherished purpose for me was my own refusal to trust Him, to believe Him, to cast all my cares upon Him, to take Him at His word.”
Reflection by Fr. Paul Sheller, OSB
Posted in Articles for Ordinary Time, Daily Reflections