Do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say

 

Scripture readings for today's reflection can be found at Friday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time | USCCB

In our gospel for today, we hear the continuation of the gospel of St. Matthew where our Lord, after choosing his Twelve disciples, was sending them out to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom of God. Earlier this week we heard Jesus tell his disciples to go and proclaim, “The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Today we hear Jesus tell them of the challenges they will face in bringing the gospel to the world.  People will hand you over to courts and scourge you in their synagogues, and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake as a witness before them and the pagans. This doesn’t sound exactly like a dream job that anyone would want to do. But the disciples, once they encountered Jesus and developed that relationship of love and forgiveness with Him, knew that it was important to bring the good news to the world, whether the world wanted to hear it or not.

We, too, like the disciples, are called to bring the good news that the Kingdom of heaven is at hand. We are called to let people know that relationship with God and being open to His Will is the only way to bring peace to a world that is so full of violence and hurt. Unfortunately, there will be people that will try to stop us, whether family members or friends. They will not understand our motives in trying to bring the love of God into the world. It may even be people in our church community that may not understand who we are or what we are trying to do out of love and service to God.

Our Lord is encouraging us to remain focused on his love for us and for those who are in our lives that may hurt us. We are to remain centered on Jesus in prayer, frequent reading of scripture, frequent reception of Holy Communion, and frequent use of confession during the times we fall short.

Let us persevere in bringing this good news of the Gospel to others in this world no matter the cost and know that Jesus is with us always.