Our readings for this weekend are about faith and trust in the face of fear. There is much, it seems, for Jeremiah to fear in the first reading. He has heard the whispering and murmuring of those he had once been quite close to. “Terror on every side! Denounce! Let us denounce him!”, they cry (Jeremiah 20:10). Of course, we know that not long after this initial hostility, Jeremiah will be threatened, mistreated, imprisoned and thrown into a cistern! He has every reason to fear, but instead he chooses to trust and have faith:
For to you I have entrusted my cause. Sing to the Lord, praise the Lord, for he has rescued the life of the poor from the power of the wicked!
—Jeremiah 20:12-13
The Gospel foretells similar woes for the Apostles, yet Christ urges them, “Fear no one” (Matthew 10:26). While He will go on to speak of “those who kill the body,” the exact context at the beginning of the Gospel for this weekend is a continuation of the earlier reference He has made to calumny. He had said to them, “If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household” (Matthew 10:25). This weekend He begins by exhorting the Apostles not to fear those who maliciously lie with the intent of causing harm, either to one’s reputation or to one’s physical life.
These are very challenging readings and they make a strong appeal to faith and trust in God.
Listening to these readings this morning, the person of Cardinal George Pell easily comes to mind. Like Jeremiah, he also was denounced by calumnious voices set only on his demise. Unjustly accused, he was convicted in a court of law and imprisoned. By the grace of God, the truth prevailed and he was exonerated, but not before undergoing an ordeal that would require tremendous faith and trust in the promises of Christ.
Focusing only on the element of fear, one could be tempted to live one’s faith in Christ a bit more, well, "carefully." Perhaps it would be better, based upon these events, to not be so ready to witness to Jesus Christ or to follow the teachings of the Church where they come into conflict with the current culture. Fear often tries to force such compromises.
In his book, An Exorcist Tells His Stories,” Fr. Gabrielle Amorth (at that time the chief exorcist of Rome) writes about a question he had been asked many times. Are not priests afraid to say yes when the bishop asks them to take on the responsibilities of an exorcist for the diocese? After all, would not agreeing to be an exorcist anger the devil and make them more vulnerable to attacks? Amorth answers that, in fact, there are two things that priests do frequently that anger the devil more than exorcism and do more to diminish the works of evil: Absolving sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and preaching the Gospel (he naturally takes the Sacrament of the Eucharist as a given).
The first one is rather obvious. To absolve sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation does much more than drive away evil (it certainly does that). It also restores the soul to sanctifying grace for those who were in mortal sin. In a moment, a soul that is in danger of being lost forever because of mortal sin is suddenly brought back into a relationship with God that opens up to eternal life.
Preaching the Gospel may come, perhaps, as a bit more of a surprise. Preaching more powerful than an exorcism? Really? But Amorth goes on to describe the power of the word of God, and how preaching helps to form the soul in the virtue of faith. Faith builds an environment around the believer that destroys ignorance and vice. It helps one to trust in the promises of God, and inspires the soul to virtue and good works. The devil thrives in ignorance and fear; faith allows the believer to understand that God is very, very near when trials come, not far away. It allows one to live not by feelings and external appearances, but in the reality of God’s never-changing love. The devil’s hands are tied by faith, because the power of God is very much at work in that environment.
It is precisely for this reason—because of the power of the preaching of the Gospel and the faith that is generated—that Christ exhorts the Apostles this morning to “fear no one” and to get that message out! He continues, “What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops” (Matthew 10:27). We are here today because these men listened to the words of Christ and put them into practice. They did so with words, their actions, and even by offering their very lives as martyrs.
What are these reading and the teachings of Christ challenging us to do this week? First and foremost, we are called to embrace the virtue of faith and, like Jeremiah, entrust ourselves to the power of God. Whenever we encounter fear or evil (and we will), we entrust ourselves to the providence and the power of God. We seek to live not by feelings but by faith, and strive to grow in that virtue. Like all virtues, faith is a gift. If we want more faith, we need to ask God for it, and know that He is so very prepared to increase that theological virtue in us.
Secondly, we proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The priest preaches by virtue of his office but every believer is called to proclaim the Gospel message of salvation. We are all called to make the message of mercy known to a world that desperately needs to hear it. When we do that, we create an environment of faith for those around us. So many times there are people we encounter that do not have an experience of the Sacraments, they do not know how very much God loves them and is ready to forgive and draw them close to Him. But we do know and experience those things all the time. When we make that truth known, we help to create an environment of faith and allow God to destroy the works of evil.
Finally, we acknowledge how very effective the Sacrament of Reconciliation is, not only in driving away evil but also allowing sanctifying grace to create a wellspring of goodness in our lives and in the world. Particularly for those of us who seek to embrace this sacrament frequently, we trust that God is continuing to form us in a way that makes us more faithful, more effective and more joyful disciples of Jesus Christ. We all want that!
Today we seek faith in the face of fear, and ask for the power of God to continue His amazing and glorious work in us.
