It is 11th July 2020. We celebrate the memorial of St. Benedict.
The readings are from Isaiah 6:1-8 and the Gospel from Matthew 10:24-33.
You are called and chosen so no more to fear. “Therefore, do not be afraid of them. (Mt.10:26).
In the first reading God is looking for someone to be a messenger. The prophet Isaiah feared initially yet he responded with enthusiasm.
‘Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?’ ‘Here I am,’ I said: ‘send me!” (Is 6:8). Moses said, Here I am.” (Exodus 3:4), and Samuel responded in the night, “Here I am.” (I Samuel 3:6) and Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” (Lk.1:38). The list is endless in the Sacred Scripture.
When did we say such word in our life?
If fear is present, our tongues are tied, and our hearts are closed to accept the invitation of the Lord to work for Him.
When fear disappears, we have the courage to say, ‘here I am,’ to the Lord.
There are life situations and a bunch of people around us inflict fear to have a control over us.
We need to feel the presence of God through the Holy Spirit to recognise such fear to be near Jesus.
Those who live in fear find it hard pronounce such powerful response to the Lord who calls us to do a specific task at a specific time.
What does fear do to us? Fear leads us to have the experience of fight-flight-freeze. If we do not have the appropriate fear in proportion, we cannot respond to a situation or invitation to the best of our ability.
To be nervous will not make us to be sick but to continue submerging in the depth of fear not believing in ourselves and God weakens and destroys the courage within and paralyses doing anything.
The responsorial Psalm praises, “The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.” (Ps.93:1).
In the Gospel, Jesus continues to encourage the disciples not to fear of those who could destroy the body and cannot kill the soul.
A student under fear learns nothing. Fear-free formation helps the student to explore the avenues of knowledge in liberty and leniency.
Jesus points out that a student who has mastered and understood everything look alike or represent the Master but never replace the master. “A student is not above his teacher, or a slave above his master.” (Mt 10:24).
To acknowledge Jesus before people, we must have approached Him personally in our lives.
We need to be afraid of anyone who look down on us because our affiliation with Jesus.
Jesus was not afraid of anyone for His acknowledgment of the Father in His life. To conquer and overcome fear we need to constantly believe and trust God. May the Lord help us to deal with our worries to face all types of fear head-on. Have a lovely day.