CATHOLIC HOMILIES: THE 12TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - YEAR A

CATHOLIC HOMILIES: THE 12TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR A

HOMILY THEME: WHAT TO FEAR AND WHAT NOT TO FEAR!

BY: Fr. Ben Agbo

HOMILY: * Jer 20 : 10 – 13, Rom 5 : 12 – 15, Matt 10 : 26 – 33.

A. PREAMBLE
Our greatest enemy in life is fear. Fear destroys our faith in God and disrupts our hope in life. When there is hope there is life. But when fear removes hope, it ipso facto removes life. Fear can be good or bad depending on the type of fear. Normal fear is good but abnormal fear is bad. For example, a person passing through the jungles should fear snakes and so, put on boots. But to be neurotically fearful of snakes under the carpet of your house in the city is abnormal. Normal fear is constructive eg Fear of examination makes students read their books ; Fear of darkness led to the invention of electricity ; Fear of diseases led to the discovery of medicines. But abnormal fear is destructive. They cripple and paralyze us. A wise man said “Fear is a magnet for it attracts what is feared. It is a conductor into demonic possibilities. But faith is the only insulator against demonic attacks and connects us to the possibilities in God “.

B. WHAT NOT TO FEAR
In today’s gospel Jesus tells us what to fear and what not to fear. Let me begin with the latter ;
(a) Have no fear of men ; Enemies, Witches and Wizards, Evil rulers, and those who persecute us for our righteousness. In today’s 1st reading, Jeremiah says emphatically : ‘My persecutors will stumble, they will not overcome me’. Christ says in the gospel : ‘Have no fear of men… who kill the body but cannot kill the soul’. He says : ‘Every hair on your head is counted. Fear not because you are of more value to God than sparrows’.

(b) Have no fear of hunger, sicknesses and failures ; birds of the air neither sow nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them, Matt 6 : 25 – 30.
When the Isrealites had crossed the Red Sea and entered the promised land, Moses went to commune with God in the mountain and when they could not see Moses after some days the people became anxious. They went under the fear of insecurity. Fear blocked their memory of what God had done in the past and their understanding about what He can still do, they backslided into idolatry, Ex 32.

C. WHAT TO FEAR
Christ tells us exactly in today’s gospel what to fear ;
(a) Those who can kill both body and soul. It is only sin that has this power to destroy both body and soul. The 2nd reading tells us the effect of sin in the world starting from the time of Adam to the coming of Jesus Christ.
(b) Another is faithlessness ; Anything that breaks your faith breaks your source of spiritual power. Sin alone cannot defeat us but hopelessness is the real killer – loss of hope in the mercy of God. Now, hear this : God does not condemn the weak but the wicked. He died to save the weak who trust in him. But the arrogant who do not believe in his grace, he cannot help.
* St Augustine said it emphatically that ‘God who created you without you cannot save you without you’.
* St Paul said : ‘If we have died with him (in moral theology we call it ‘fundamental option for Christ’) we shall live with him. If we persevere we shall reign with him. If we disown him he will disown us. If we are faithless (backsliding) he remains faithful for he cannot disown his own self (child)’, 2 Tim 2 : 12.

E. CHRIST ‘S DOSSIER
Christ has given us the following as antidotes to fear ;
(a) Contentment ; The grace of Contentment is the supreme gift for every Christian. The secret of happiness in life is contentment. It is the volume controller of life’s variant expectancies. According to the philosopher Seneca, ‘Contentment is natural richness while luxury is artificial poverty’.
(b) Faith ; The grace of faith is the greatest elixir of life. The Bible says : ‘If God is for us who can be against us?.. Nothing can therefore separate us from the love of Christ’, Rom 8 : 31 – 35. Faith means drawing strength from God. It is the beginning, centre and end of the spiritual life. God cannot do anything for someone who does not give him the chance. We give God this chance through our faith’.
(c) Peace ; The highest gift Jesus dropped with his disciples after the resurrection is the gift of peace and the sacrament of reconciliation. He said : ‘Peace be with you… Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive any one’s sins they are forgiven..’, Jn 20 : 21.

F. CONCLUSION
The problem of fear is the most existential problem of man. It is both psychological and religious ; psychological because it stirs every human being in the face and religious because our faith in God is affected by it and vice versa. St Augustine therefore says : ‘You have made us for yourselves O God and our hearts are restless until they find rest in thee’. The problem of fear is therefore solved by religion or exercebated by it.

When a society is ruled by ‘cult men’ for example, there is such a reign of fear and insecurity because that is the major characteristic of the kingdom of darkness. Every attempt to free a society from sin and bondage is often resisted by Satan but the children of God should be wise to continue to fight and never back the wrong horse.

The mistake of the last election should never be repeated by Christians in Nigeria. It has become clear that rulership by fanatical Muslims spells doom and perpetual insecurity and slavery for Nigerians under the ‘sons of Usman Dan Fodio ‘. Check world record and see what happens wherever they are in charge.

The Bible says that the light has come into the world but men prefer darkness. But as many as received him he gave power to become the children of God, Jn 1 : 9 – 10. The children of God are characterized by the freedom from fear and slavery. We should have no fear of either men or spirits but fear only sin and backsliding.

Happy Sunday dear friends!

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