Two-Minute Homily by Fr Raju Joseph CMI for the Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time 2023.
“Today we have a choice to make. A choice to live in fear or a choice to live in faith.”
- Two-Minute Homily Transcript
Two-Minute Homily Transcript
Author: Archdiocese of BrisbaneFear not! Be not afraid! Jesus said to the apostles in the Gospel and so he says to each of us today. The message is as timely now as it ever was because fear permeates every age. Some people have even said that human life is just a long succession of fears. As human beings we fear every stages of our life in one way or other. We fear for safety, we fear for the future, we fear losing our jobs, we fear terrorists, wars, natural calamities, pandemics and what else and as we get on in years, we begin to fear that most terrible of fears, pain and death. Against all of these fears Jesus tells us again today, “be not afraid!” And Jesus does not do so naively rather he means it.
Having taken flesh from the Virgin Mary and became fully man, he knows everything human beings experience except sin. He knows what fear is. He knows what pain is and experienced it himself. He knows what death is and entered into it fully. And he tells us not once, not twice, but several times in the Gospels, “Do not be afraid!” Today we have a choice to make. A choice to live in fear or a choice to live in faith. There is no third option. Everything indeed works out for the good for those who love and trust in God. My brothers and sisters in Christ, Jesus says to us one more time, “Be not afraid!” And we have got nothing to fear, because we are the disciples of the One who has conquered the world!