06/18/2026
TWELFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
READINGS: Jeremiah 20:10-13; Psalm 69:8-10, 14, 17, 33-35 (R. “LORD, in your great love, answer me!”); Romans 5:12-15; Matthew 10:28-33.
“Do not be afraid” or some form thereof is a frequent assurance from God, angels (literally, “messengers”), Jesus and others in the Bible. Oftentimes it is spoken to the fear, or better, the “awe”, a biblical character experiences in the presence of the divine, i.e., the presence of God or God’s messenger. But there are other fears, too. Jeremiah rightly feels fear because there are many who do not like his message, and they plot to take their revenge on him. We hear part of Jeremiah’s lament, which begins with a strongly worded accusation against the LORD: “You seduced me, LORD, and I let myself be seduced; you were too strong for me, and you prevailed. All day long I am an object of laughter; everyone mocks me” (20:7). Jeremiah begins his lament—as do all ‘lamenters’ (read, esp., the brief Book of Lamentations)—by crying out the pain in his life and the hostility toward him and his prophetic message. Jeremiah seems on the verge of packing it in: “I say I will not mention [the LORD], I will no longer speak in his name” (v. 9a). Nevertheless, Jeremiah cannot but prophesy in the LORD’s name: “But then it is as if fire is burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones; I grow weary holding back, I cannot!” (v. 9b).
Jeremiah—as do other ‘lamenters’—now shifts to remembering that the LORD is not the enemy, but those who are trying to discredit him and plot against him. Jeremiah comes back to his faith and his senses: “But the LORD is with me, like a mighty champion” (v. 11a). Jeremiah’s story is similar to the story of Jesus, for as we know very well, people plot to have Jesus arrested and eventually call for his crucifixion. Like Jeremiah, Jesus knows of the plots against him. Both Jeremiah and Jesus, however, found strength, resilience and peace in their profound relationships with God the Father. They knew what Paul proclaims: “How much more” powerful is God than are those who seek their lives—more powerful than even sin and death (cf. Rom 5:9, 10, 15, 17; 11:12, 24; 2 Cor 3:8, 11).
When Jesus went off to pray (he does so more often in the Gospel of Luke), I wonder if Jesus, like Jeremiah, prayed a lament from time to time. From the Cross, Jesus quotes the first line from Psalm 22, a lament: “And at three o’clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ which is translated, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ (Mk 15:34, cp. Mt 27:46; our responsorial Psalm is also a lament). Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane has the feeling of a lament, praying first that the Father prevent his suffering, but then trusting in the Father’s will: “Abba, Father, all things are possible to you. Take this cup away from me, but not what I will but what you will” (Mk 14:36; cp. Mt 26:39; Lk 22:42). — BTW: “agony” is only in Lk 22:44, and that verse might not be part of the original text; the word “garden” is only used in Jn 18:1, but he does not call it Gethsemane or Mount of Olives, and Jesus doesn’t offer the prayer that is in the other Gospels. Oh how we mash biblical stories together! Nevertheless, see Jn 12:27, when Jesus is in Jerusalem: “I am troubled now. Yet what should I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour.” Therein seems to be a hint of a lament.
In our Gospel passage today, as Jesus continues his Mission Discourse from last week, he is clear that the apostles will face difficult people and circumstances. They will have reason to pray laments, but Jesus assures them that they need “fear no one”, because whatever may come, even if they can “kill the body”, they “cannot kill the soul” [“life-breath” or “spirit” are better translations]. The “Father’s knowledge” tracks every sparrow and “even all the hairs of your head are counted”. (That count is getting easier and easier for God with respect to my head!) Jesus reminds them—and you and me—“you are worth more than many sparrows”. To borrow St. Paul’s phrase, “How much more” important are the disciples, you and I than the hairs on anyone’s head or some sparrows? Jesus encourages the disciples/apostles—and you and me—to be true to the mission he gives them and us, for that is where our true hope and security lie: “Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father.”
So, then, of what are you and I afraid? Too often we are afraid of “What if’s?”; we worry about possibilities or what might have been. A good friend of mine (now deceased) used to tell me to worry A LOT about these possibilities, because he found that the more he worried, the less likely the “What if?” was to occur. Funny, but he also knew that such worrying would keep him from joy, from being present to his family and friends, from a sense of God’s presence and protection. Life is, of course, more complicated than Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” (I’m showing my age!). Nevertheless, we often worry about things we cannot change.
Moreover, the sad reality is that many people use fear and scare tactics to keep us from our better selves, and to divide us. We see/read/hear such vitriol online and on TV where all too often uninformed screeds go unchecked. The speech of some politicians too often appeal to our fear—too often through untruths. Fear is powerful, and it is used very effectively by some. We see the divisive strength of fear in the promotion of racism, xenophobia, and other biases—“sins”, according to our Church teaching, for these biases fail to respect the God-given dignity of each and every person, created in the image and likeness of God.
Fear can, however, also be used positively, to warn us of REAL dangers. But as Jesus instructs his disciples and St. Paul teaches the Romans, the gift won by the life–death–resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is more powerful than even these real fears! When we experience such real fear, with Jeremiah, the Psalmist, and Jesus, we too can lament. The honesty of a lament will lead us to know, “But the LORD is with me, like a mighty champion” (Jer. 20:11a). Additionally, we’ll hear anew, “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!” (Ps 69:34-35). So, may we stay grounded, first and foremost in the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Father, and the presence of the Holy Spirit—“how much more” assuring and calming is that than any fear or worry we might have?
We might also pray the Prayer for Serenity by Reinhold Niebuhr: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference” (for Niebuhr’s full prayer: proactive12steps.com/serenity-prayer/).
Happy Fathers’ Day!
A prayer for the intercession of your patron, St. Joseph:
Oh St. Joseph, whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the throne of God, I place in you all my interests and desires.
Oh St. Joseph, do assist me by your powerful intercession and obtain for me from your divine son all spiritual blessings through Jesus Christ, our Lord; so that having engaged here below your heavenly power, I may offer my thanksgiving and homage to the most loving of Fathers.
Oh St. Joseph, I never weary contemplating you and Jesus asleep in your arms. I dare not approach while he reposes near your heart. Press Him in my name and kiss his fine head for me, and ask him to return the kiss when I draw my dying breath. St. Joseph, patron of departing souls, pray for us. Amen.
From: https://www.ourcatholicprayers.com/prayers-to-st-joseph.html. This website and others say that this is one of the earliest prayers asking the intercession of St. Joseph. That may well be true, but I sincerely doubt that it is from 50AD, as this site and others surmise! That would make it earlier than all the writings in the New Testament, even, perhaps, St. Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians. I could find no site that had early manuscript evidence on papyrus, as we have for the NT texts and other early Christian writings.
