Fr. Roger J. Landry

Conversations with Consequences Podcast

Homily for the Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time, A, Vigil

June 24, 2023

 

To listen to an audio recording of this short Sunday homily, please click below: 

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/6.24.23_Landry_ConCon_1.mp3

 

The following text guided the homily: 

* This is Fr. Roger Landry and it’s a privilege for me to be with you as we enter into the consequential conversation the Risen Lord Jesus wants to have with each of us this Sunday, when Jesus will say to us something very consoling on the one hand and very disconcerting at the same time on the other, before teaching us how the two go together.

* Jesus first tells us “Fear no one,” and goes on to give us the reason not to be afraid: because our Father in heaven loves us more than all the sparrows in the world and knows us intimately down to our last strand of hair. Fifteen times in the Gospel, in fact, Jesus tells us not to be afraid, and regularly gives us as the reason because our Father in heaven will provide for us and protect us. In the Sermon on the Mount, for example, he tells us not to worry about what we will eat or drink or wear — things we really need — because that same Father who clothes the lilies of the field knows what we need and will take care of us (Mt 6:28-32). In this Sunday’s Gospel, he tells us that he doesn’t even want us to fear suffering and physical death, because not even death can separate us from our Father’s love (Rom 8:38-39). These words are even more important at a time in which so many are eaten alive by anxiety, insecurity and fear due to problems in their personal or family life, their studies, their career, or because of the state of the world, various worrisome trends in culture, law and politics and a litany of other concerns.

* At the same time that Jesus tells us, “Fear no one,” he adds that there is one fear we should have. “Do not fear,” he says, “those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Who is this who can destroy us in Gehenna? Saints and Biblical scholars have answered this question in two ways. The majority said it refers to God, who created us, who will judge us, and who has the ability to send us to eternal self-alienation in Hell for having chosen against him in this life. By this interpretation, Jesus is saying, “Fear God rather than men,” and then goes on in the Gospel to help us learn how to relate to God not fundamentally out of fear but out of love, since this God who we should fear is one who, Jesus says, protects sparrows, has numbered every follicle, and will embrace with love and gratitude everyone who acknowledges Jesus. The second, minority, interpretation is that the one who can destroy both body and soul in hell is the devil. Of course the devil is not divine and certainly cannot destroy in the same way God would be able to destroy, but he can torment both body and soul forever.

* Even though I’m inclined toward the first interpretation, that Jesus is telling us not to be afraid even of those who threaten to murder us but rather to focus on the God who loves us and in correspondence to the gift of fear of the Lord seek not to displease or deny him in the world but acknowledge him before others, including when threatened, I want to spend our time on the minority interpretation because the devil is getting a lot of attention today, many Catholics are asking questions and some are indeed becoming anxious. Two movies have recently been released focusing on the devil, The Pope’s Exorcist, which is really a shallow and disappointing horror movie starring actor Russell Crowe supposedly based on the life of the fo...