Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time: June 21 (Fr. Karl Esker, C.Ss.R.)
Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time A
June 21, 2026
Hello and welcome to the Word, bringing you the Good News of Jesus Christ every day from the Redemptorists of the Baltimore Province. I am Fr. Karl Esker from the Basilica of our Lady of Perpetual Help in Brooklyn, NY. Today is the Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Our reading today is taken from the holy gospel according to Matthew.
Jesus said to the Twelve: "Fear no one. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And 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 Gehenna. Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father's knowledge. Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. 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."
The gospel of the Lord.
Homily
In the gospel, Jesus says to his disciples and to all of us: “Fear no one.” He says this as he sends them out on mission, knowing that they will run into serious opposition, just as he did. Jesus was sustained by his unshakable faith in God his Father, but we often have more difficulty.
We learn fear from an early age. In high school especially we learn to fear the opinion of others. What do they think of the way I dress, or the way I talk. What might they say? Am I going to belong? It is amazing the contortions we are willing to go through in order to fit in. And if we are not careful, we can lose our sense of self.
Fear paralyzes us and can even keep us from doing what we know is right. That is why the media uses fear so much to get us to do what they want, even if it is against our own best interests. So, Jesus explains: Do not fear those who can kill the body but can do no more. Fear the one who can put both body and soul in Gehenna.
This requires faith in the God who made us and gives us new life in Jesus. In the first reading we hear the prayer of Jeremiah, who stood up for God against the powers of his day because he believed that God was actively on his side. Down through the centuries the martyrs have cheerfully gone to their deaths, not because they believed in a worthy project, but because they believed in the promise of eternal life that Jesus had given to those who are faithful. God does not fail in his loving concern for us, Jesus assures his disciples. “Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”
So why does Jesus tell his disciple to fear the one who can put both body and soul in Gehenna? In the Bible, the Fear of God is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and the Psalms tell us that the Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. That is because the Fear of God is something other than terror. We can stand terrified before the unknown or before some grave danger that threatens ourselves or a loved one. But God is no danger to us, God is the source of our life and the presence that brings joy and wholeness to our being.
Fear of God is not terror before the Almighty, it is reverence before the One who brought us into being and loves us more than we can possibly imagine. We want to avoid offending God, not because it will draw upon us the divine wrath in some sort of terrible punishment, but because we do not want to become like ungrateful children who do not recognize all the good that their Father or Mother does for them. The fear of God makes us want to become our best selves, and so honor the One who created and redeemed us.
Because we want God’s grace and loving presence in our lives, we avoid all that take us away from God. We take to heart Jesus’ command to fear no one and nothing that would lead us away from God, and we seek to approach and imitate more closely Jesus Christ, because in him we have become children of God, to the honor of God the Father.
May God bless you.
Fr. Karl E. Esker CSsR
Basilica of our Lady of Perpetual Help
Brooklyn, NY
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