TWELFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, CYCLE A

Opening prayer: Loving God, thank you for gathering us together to share your Word and our lives. When fear, betrayal and threats of any kind enter across our path, help us to turn to you and believe that with your help we can fight any battle. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Sharing life: What is your greatest fear at this time in your life?

Facilitator reads focus statement: Trust God in times of fear is a thread that ties all three readings together. In the first reading, people are trying to intimidate Jeremiah. He is able to withstand their threats because of his trust in God. "God is with me as my mighty champion." In the Gospel, Jesus is preparing his disciples for the hostile reactions for preaching his message. In the second reading, Paul celebrates salvation in Christ as a gift which empowers us to deal with fear and free us from the only things that truly should make us fearful, namely, sin, death, separation from God.

If you have not read the commentary before your gathering, consider reading it before or after each reading.

FIRST READING: Jeremiah 20:10-13

Jeremiah has been often called a "reluctant" prophet because he didn’t want the ministry of being God’s prophet. When God called Jeremiah, he said he wasn’t much of a talker. But once he said "yes" to God’s call, he spoke what he felt God wanted him to say, even if his message enraged religious and civil leaders and his own peers. Frequently, he had to call the leaders and people to repentance of infidelity to their covenant with God.

Today’s reading is an excerpt from what is called "the confessions of Jeremiah." (Jeremiah’s "confessions" concerned the personal anguish he experienced in his soul e.g. "Why is God allowing all this bad stuff to happen to me?") Jeremiah is being persecuted for his unwelcome words. The people are saying: "Denounce, let us denounce him." We can almost feel Jeremiah’s sense of rejection. But his trust is in God, his mighty champion. In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples not to let fear intimidate them and to place their trust in God. Jeremiah is a wonderful example of someone who acts on this word of Jesus. Also, notice how Jeremiah has no problem asking God to avenge his persecutors, "Let me witness the vengeance you take on them."

RESPONSORIAL PSALM 69

This is a psalm of lament used during a worship service by an individual undergoing a time of personal suffering. It clearly echoes Jeremiah’s experience of rejection.

SECOND READING: Romans 5:12-15

The opening verse of this reading. "Through one man sin entered the world. . ." is the basis of the Catholic Church’s doctrine on original sin as taught by the Council of Trent in the sixteenth century.

In this part of Romans, Paul contrasts Adam, the cause of sin to Christ, the cause of grace. The universality of sin springs from the disobedience of Adam. Paul compares this to the superabundance of grace that flows from Christ.

Adam’s sin unleashed as it were a ‘sin force’ into the world which all of us picked up at our origin. Because of Adam’s sin and because of the sin present in our world and in our family tree all of us are born flawed and with a tendency towards sin. This belief is concretized for us as we watch children develop the imperfections of their parents and society and as we observe the basic selfishness in children and adults

GOSPEL: Matthew 10:26-33

Jesus was well aware of the many challenges that would face all who choose to follow him in faith and preach in his name. A little earlier he said: "I am sending you like sheep among wolves." (Matt. 10:16) In this gospel, Jesus shares an exhortation that would be recalled in the future when the church faced persecution. "Fear no one. 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 Gahanna."

In order to underline his message to "not be afraid", Jesus uses two images to speak of God’s care for each of us. He says: "If God cares for sparrows (regarded as the least of all animals) and if God numbers even the hairs of our head, how much more will he care for us who are more than many sparrows?" Then he adds a solemn warning: "... whoever denies him before others will be denied by his heavenly Father." Finally, the verse: "Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known." The thing hidden is probably a reference to the teaching of Jesus. In time, his disciples would proclaim from the housetops what was previously whispered.

FAITH SHARING QUESTIONS

1. What verse spoke to you and why?

2. Can you recall a time or experience when God was with you like a ‘mighty champion’?

3. Have you ever thought of your enemies as God’s enemies? Do you still think that way?

4. How much do you explain the doctrine of original sin to someone not familiar with the belief?

5. IN the Gospel, Jesus is seeking to help the disciples deal with the fear that might hinder them from being fearless like Jeremiah. What fear(s) hinder you from being a better Christian?

RESPONDING TO THE WORD

Name one way you can act on today’s reading. Suggestion: Be aware of where fear rules in your life and seek to combat it with courage and trust in God.

CONCLUDE WITH PRAYERS OF PETITION AND INTERCESSION