Message from Fr. Brito:

12th Sunday Year A

     In today’s Gospel the Lord Jesus tells us three times not to fear. The first two times he says: “Fear no one”, and  “do don’t be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul”,

Then he tell us once who we should fear. “…Rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gahanna” At the end of the gospel we get a clue of what Jesus means by this: “Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father”

        St. Paul says in another place, “If God is with us who can be against us”.

The temptation in life is to deny God. We do this most often when we chose to sin. We would rather please people than do and say what is right and true. When we deny truth we deny God. Jesus came to testify to the truth. We most know the truth; that means we know Jesus, because he as he himself has said "I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me".

       The fear that Jesus warns us is not to have is the fear that paralyzes us from doing incredible things in this life. We are too occupied with worrying about what people think. We are so concerned with receiving human approval. This tendency is manifested in us at an early age. Peer pressure is nothing other than wanting human approval. We would rather be liked by others, than to do what is right.

     So do not be afraid, my brothers and sisters, to acknowledge God and to be true to your faith in his Son Jesus Christ. Do not be afraid to hold true to the commandments and to stand for what is right and true. We live in a world that holds no truth. Truth is subjective and anyone who holds to an objective truth, like us Christians, are not tolerated by those who hold firm to subjectivism or relativism and thus echoing the sentiments of Pontius Pilate when he responded sarcastically to Jesus: "What is Truth?"

Again repeating the words of St. Paul, “If God is with us who can be against us”.

So do not be afraid to stand with Christ and only fear offending God, for God is kind and merciful. He is also all just.

Amen