Do not be afraid of those who kill the body

Pastor’s Pen
St. Augustine Catholic Church
Sunday, June 21, 2020
Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Times

“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body” (Matt. 10: 26-33).

Brothers and Sisters,

We are back again to the Sundays in Ordinary Time where we left it to enter the seasons of Lent, Easter, and the solemnities in the liturgy: Ascension, Trinity, and Corpus Christi.

The altar is now decorated with a green altar cloth at the background and the priests are wearing green vestments. Green is a sign of Growth. When we see the trees with heavy green leaves, it is a sign of good times to come with either beautiful flowers or food plants. It is also a sign of the harvest to come.  So green, liturgically, is a sign of continual growth in the love and blessings of the Lord to enable us to bear fruit in our lives.

Green is also a sign of HOPE in God to overcome hardships, difficulties and challenging times which sometimes militate our earthly existence.  Jeremiah, in our first reading, had hope and called on God for safety when terror and fear overwhelmed him and he felt his enemies would denounce him. The Lord answered him and rescued him from the power of the wicked.

Nearer to home, we are still under the cloud of the present Covid-19 Coronavirus that befell the whole universe.  Millions have been recorded as having died from the scourge. Many thousands and more are still under treatment.  Hunger and starvation have become our regular companions, but thanks to God we are surviving, and things are improving.

However, some good lessons have come out of this crisis.  We went into intensive prayer for God’s grace and protection.  The sense to keep safe became more alive in us. We obeyed the rules of hygiene and other disciplines we had not been strictly observing before. We know them now and permit me to say, we are now able to stay in the Church more prayerfully without excessive talking, especially at the exchange of peace at Mass and at dismissal. How I wish this practice will continue. We can see that sometimes good comes out of evil, but as St. Paul said, “We must not do evil that good may come” (Romans3:8).  Therefore, difficult times and events can provide us opportunities to exercise the gift of hope that better things will most probably come out of it in future.  Praise God, Alleluia!

Father Chris