June 21, 2026 – Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings: Jeremiah 20:10-13; Psalm 69, R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.; Romans 5:12-15;
Gospel – Matthew 10: 26-33
Amid all the events happening around us—locally and globally—today’s Gospel is a source of encouragement and inspiration.
We can consider three useful thoughts to ponder. What can it tell us about the temptation to lose hope? Consider the power behind its opening thought, “Fear no one.” Then, finally, the assurance of Jesus’ support.
For almost a decade, people have asked the question, “Is there still hope?” With firm conviction, my response has always been, “Yes! The moment we lose hope, evil wins”
For almost a decade, people have asked the question, “Is there still hope?” With firm conviction, my response has always been, “Yes! The moment we lose hope, evil wins.”
With what is going on around us, to lose hope is a constant temptation. The challenge of hope is that we feel it when we are at the threshold of despair.
It is at this moment that we choose, and the choice is to surrender to someone or something greater than us, or to surrender to despair and defeat.
Hope, as well as despair, is a choice. To choose to hope is one of the greatest acts of freedom. It frees us from what oppresses us and makes us rise above the situation to overcome despair.
There is a very thin line between the two sides of the choice. Each side has a very strong pull. Picture Jesus in the Agony in the Garden.
He was choosing between despair and hope. He did ask to be spared from the pain and horror of a violent death—emotionally and physically. But then he surrendered to the Father, someone greater.
The choice was hope. The choice was loving obedience.
“Fear no one,” I believe, came from a similar experience of agony and loving obedience.
Initially, the assurance was that God’s plan and justice will prevail. A very bold and firm assurance of good overcoming evil.
Then it went deeper into an assurance of God’s providence.
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. (cf. Matthew 10: 26-33)
From the bold and firm assurance of justice and the good prevailing over evil, we are assured of his very personal and loving providence.
“So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”
These two graces, though expressed in the negative—do not lose hope and fear no one—bear fruit in a life lived with courage and inspiration.
Think of a time when you were in a tight and challenging situation; an experience when you felt very deeply that you were hoping against hope. Recall what made you pivot or turn the situation around.
Often, in my experience, we hope for others. When the temptation to despair oppresses us, thinking of others—those we love, those we work with, those we serve—pulls us out of the rut.
When the temptation to despair oppresses us, thinking of others—those we love, those we work with, those we serve—pulls us out of the rut
If we think only of ourselves in challenging times, we are bound to fail. It is almost like quicksand.
A few months back, I struggled with despair and asked many questions about why I had to deal with things which I thought were “not part of the deal.” Then someone sent this to me:
Frodo: I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.
It was a choice to hope and to decide “what to do with the time [and opportunity] that [are] given to us. Then I chose hope.
Then the trust followed, trusting in a God whose loving providence is always present.
Jesus’ assurance completed the perspective in today’s Gospel. “Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father.”
We witness Jesus. Our lives become totally dedicated to Jesus. St. Paul wrote:
My eager expectation and hope is that I shall not be put to shame in any way, but that with all boldness, now as always, Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me life is Christ, and death is gain. (Philippians 1: 20-21)
“Life is Christ, and death is gain” brings to fulfillment the grace of hope that vanquishes fear.
