Happy Father’s Day to all fathers, grandfathers, and stepfathers. Five weeks ago, we observed Mother’s Day and prayed for our mothers. Today, on this Father’s Day, we are doing the same – offering prayers for our dads, living or dead, on the altar of God during this Holy Mass and invoking our Heavenly Father’s blessings on them.
In the Gospel passage that we read on this week-end, the Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Jesus suggests that his disciples should move from fear to courage through trust and reliance in God. He gives three reasons why neither his apostles nor we, should be frightened. The first reason is that their opponents will not be able to prevent Jesus’ followers from succeeding in their mission because God will expose the opponents’ evil plans and deeds.
The second reason not to be afraid is the limited power of our opponents. They can kill the body, which dies all too soon anyway, but have no power over the soul. Only God has power over eternity. The Gospel identifies two fears that the apostles had: fear of false accusation and conviction, and fear of bodily harm and death. Tradition has it that almost all the apostles died the violent death of martyrdom. Some of them ended up being crucified on the cross, like Peter and Andrew; beheaded, like James and Paul; flayed alive, like Bartholomew. To this day, Christian faith is the most persecuted religion all around the globe.
The third reason we should not be afraid is God’s compassionate love. We are more important to God than sparrows. Matthew speaks of two sparrows sold for one penny. The price of a sparrow was lower than the smallest denominational coin of Jesus’ time. Yet God who cares for a trivial bird like the sparrow also cares about our smallest problems – even the hairs on our heads are counted. While this is an encouraging assurance, it may be difficult to believe in the midst of persecution. But God knows everything that we go through – nothing that happens to us escapes Him. When we feel lonely and abandoned, when it seems that our prayers are unanswered, God knows and cares. Jesus concludes by saying, “So do not be afraid; you are worth much more than many sparrows.” In other words, the perfect antidote for fear is trust in God. God is our shelter and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.
One common fear that many Christians carry around is, “Am I good enough for eternal life?” If we are loyal to Jesus in this life, Jesus will be loyal to us in the life to come. On the other hand, if we are too proud to acknowledge that Christ is our Lord and Savior, He will not acknowledge us in the next life. In the early Church, Christians had the courage of their convictions, knowing very well that this might result in their losing their lives. Hence, we must not deny God through our silence, whether in word or deed. Denial by deeds arises from actions that do not match our profession of Faith. We must not be ashamed to behave as people of Faith and proclaim our Christian convictions when necessary. When we live by convictions of our Christian faith, then we live in the certainty of eternal life.
Today we are invited to live in the serenity of the belief that our Heavenly Father knows exactly what is happening to us in our life. What a release from fear it is to know that God is on our side; that our life is in the hands of a loving God! The next time fear grips our life we need to remember that being faithful to Christ wherever we meet him in this life is the only thing expected of us as the Psalmist prays, “In God alone is my soul at rest.”