Daily Mass Gospel Reflection- Fearing Not

Word on Fire Ministry ^ | 07.09.22 | Bishop Robert Barron

[MurphsLaw]

Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Matthew 10:24–33

Friends, Jesus instructs his disciples in today’s Gospel,
“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.”

What is the greatest fear we have?
Undoubtedly, the fear of losing our own lives;
we fear the death of the body.
But Jesus is telling us not to worry about those paper tigers
that can only affect the body and its goods.

When I am in love with God, when I am “fearing” him above all things,
I am rooted in a power that transcends space and time,
a power that governs the universe in its entirety,
a power that is greater than life and death.

More to it, this power knows me intimately and guides me according to his purposes:
“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?
Yet not one of them will fall to the ground unperceived by your Father.
And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid.”
Because of this we have nothing to fear from anything or anybody here below.

[MurphsLaw]

+++Jesus said to his Apostles:
“No disciple is above his teacher,
no slave above his master.
It is enough for the disciple that
he become like his teacher,
for the slave that he become like
his master.
If they have called the master of
the house Beelzebul,
how much more those of his household!

“Therefore do not be afraid of them.
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 Father.
But whoever denies me before others,
I will deny before my heavenly Father.”+++