12th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
Mt 10:26-33

The house is very quiet as I write. The part of the college where I live with over a hundred young men preparing for priesthood is deserted apart from myself. Most have left on holidays. The others are gone to be ordained priests among their own people. To go forward for ordination nowadays, they must have great courage in their hearts, courage to do what they know is right for them, to do always what God wants for the rest of their lives.

They go out to serve in a world that puts more value on wealth than on faith in God, that rates achievement higher than integrity, that responds to power pressure rather than to peoples' needs, that seeks happiness in individual comfort rather than in relation-ship, and that ignores loneliness under the guise of preserving privacy.
The young priest's call is to create communities where Christ's values replace the world's priorities. It is a call to courage, to stand up for what is right no matter what the cost, to prefer God to all else.

But, of course, this is the call of every Christian - priest, religious or lay, each in their own way of life. Every Christian's role is to make Christ's presence tangible in the family, in the neighbor-hood, in the work-place and among those in greatest need. To do this requires great courage, the courage not to be afraid of those who can destroy one's livelihood. As Christ puts it in today's gospel: 'Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.'

 

(Commentary by Tom Clancy. Taken from "Preaching the Word", Columba)