Saturday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Entrance Antiphon Cf. Ps 48 (47): 10‑11 Your merciful love, O God, we have received in the midst of your temple. Your praise, O God, like your name, reaches the ends of the earth; your right hand is filled with saving justice.

Collect O God, who in the abasement of your Son have raised up a fallen world, fill your faithful with holy joy, for on those you have rescued from slavery to sin you bestow eternal gladness. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Scripture today: Isaiah 6:1-8; Psalm 92; Matthew 10:24-33

A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household! So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. 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 hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. (Matthew 10:24-33)

Fear In his book, Anglicanism, the Anglican bishop Stephen Neill asks “how it came about that the King (Henry VIII) met with so little resolute opposition in the carrying out of his plans.” Neill is referring to Henry’s break with Rome and his self-appointment as head of the Church in England. Sir Thomas More who, Neill writes, “was one of the greatest men and greatest Christians of his day,” was one of the few who resisted. The first reason for the lack of resistance, Neill writes, was “the plain fact that Henry was a resolute and dangerous person” (Pelican, p.43). That is to say, it was fear of the power of the sovereign which — together with other factors — brought such a change to the religion of the nation. The king determined to break from Rome above all because of the “great matter” of his marriage, and fear of him led to acquiescence. Fear is a powerful force in the shaping of the world and rightly so, because it is an essential element in the preservation of life. Everywhere in vegetative life, part and parcel of growth is the development of mechanisms of protection. Fear is manifest in the animal world: the turtle develops its powerful shell, and at the first intimation of danger, from fear it retreats into its own shell. There it is safe against the predator. Fear of threats is everywhere among insects, animals, birds, all. It is the response that protects the animal at risk. If it had no fear, its physical life would be destroyed. Fear also protects the life of man, but in his case there are various dimensions of life. There is his physical life, his intellectual life, his moral life, his spiritual life. There is his life here on earth and there is his life in the world to come. He has the power to perceive what is of lasting and supreme importance, and to determine the threats to his eternal life and happiness. If he has sufficient perception, he will understand that a threat to his physical life is a grave thing indeed, but far graver is the threat to his eternal life. That threat comes from turning from God. Thomas More feared the threat to physical life, but he did not allow it to turn him from God.

At various times in the Gospels our Lord exhorts his disciples not to fear in the sense of allowing their fear to master them. On one occasion they were alone in the boat on the Sea of Galilee, and it was a heavy sea. He came to them across the water, and they were terrified. He said, Do not fear! It is I! The fact is that fear can prevent us from doing what is right, and can lead us into doing what is wrong, even what is gravely wrong. When Herod Antipas threw his great birthday party and invited the important people of Galilee to it, the daughter of Herodias danced in superb fashion. She caught the imagination of Herod and of his guests. Ask me whatever you wish, he bawled out. She made her horrendous request, and it was fear that led Herod to accede to it. He feared what his guests might think of him if he did not. So one of the holiest personages in the history of the chosen people was cut down and it was because of fear. Later, it was our Lord’s turn. Pilate was for setting Christ free, just as Herod was for leaving John imprisoned. But as with Herod, so with Pilate, it was because of fear that he handed Jesus over to be crucified. He feared the reports that might reach Caesar of a turbulent and disturbed province, and of allowing to go free one whom the religious leaders accused of sedition. Pilate feared, and the result of his fear was the greatest misdeed of all time. God the Son made man was executed because of lies, which Pilate himself perceived quite clearly. He could see that it was only because of jealousy that the leaders had handed him over. The night before, Simon Peter had denied knowing our Lord three times. It was because of fear. Our Lord, during his public ministry, had mounting threats all around him, but he did not accede to fear. In the Garden of Gethsemane he implored his heavenly Father to let the cup of suffering pass from him — but only his will be done. He sweated blood for fear. But he did not give in to fear. He controlled it, and surrendered himself to the Father. Christ is the exemplar for mankind of what to do about fear in the doing of what is right.

We can overcome our fear if we keep our sight on the higher reward. As I have mentioned before, as Thomas More approached the scaffold, he said, Even if I lose my head, I’ll come to no harm! He had before him the blessings to come. When the Duke of Norfolk remarked to More that the anger of the king is death (Indignatio principis mors est), More replied that “Is that all, my lord? ... Then in good faith there is no more difference between your grace and me, but that I shall die today, and you tomorrow.” Let us every day keep our sights on the Last Things: death, the divine judgment, and heaven or hell.

(E.J.Tyler)

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A Second Reflection: (Matthew 10:24-33)

God's Judgment It is surely not difficult to realise the importance of God's judgment, if we understand that the stakes are eternal. Life is short and eternity is long, and eternity will be spent in heaven or in hell. Even in heaven, it is a bracing thought that there are higher and lower places in heaven. It is worth gaining a higher place if we shall be there forever. God's judgment is the great event that is to come. It is unavoidable and all-important. There are many things that bear on our judgment by God, and our Lord tells us of one of them in our Gospel today (Matthew 10:24-33). It is the work of bearing witness to him in everyday life. According as we speak about our Lord before others, so will he speak about us before his heavenly Father: "If anyone declares himself before me in the presence of men, I will declare myself before him in the presence of my Father in heaven. But the one who disowns me in the presence of men, I will disown in the presence of my Father in heaven."

Just as the thought of a judgment can exercise the mind wonderfully, so can this stark warning about witnessing to Jesus. Leading an apostolic life in word and deed will make a difference to our eternity. We have our Lord’s word for it.

(E.J.Tyler)

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