Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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 Gehenna. Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father's knowledge. Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. - Matthew 10:28-31

Terror on every side. That is Jeremiah's situation and it is the sending-context Jesus describes. The disciples are being sent into a world that will whisper about them, watch for their missteps, plan their entrapment. Do not be afraid. The fear that is appropriate - the one directed toward the one who can destroy soul and body - is not fear of the persecutor.

The Father counts the sparrows. The Father counts the hairs. The precision of the divine attention to the particular person is the ground of the do-not-fear: you are not overlooked or lost in the crowd. Your specific situation, your specific fear, your specific count of hairs - all of it is known.

But the Lord is with me like a mighty champion. Jeremiah names this in the middle of the conspiracy. The champion is the one who is present in the specificity of the terror, not the one who comes after it is over.

Name the specific terror-on-every-side you are facing this week - the specific fear, the specific adversary, the specific conspiracy. Then name the but-the-Lord-is-with-me over it. The champion is present in the naming. And carry [name]: Lord, be with him like a mighty champion. Let him not be afraid of those who can kill the body. Let the hairs-are-counted knowledge be his ground.

Lord, terror on every side - but you are with me like a mighty champion. My persecutors will stumble. I have entrusted my cause to you. Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in you. Amen.