June 21, 2026 -- 12th Sunday “A”
Jer 20:10-13; Rom 5:12-15; Matt 10:26-33
Homily
In the last of the Beatitudes (Matt 5:10-12), Jesus declared blessed those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake. “Blessed are you,” he said, “when they insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.” And he added, “For this is how they persecuted the prophets who came before you.” The Gospel passage we have just read comments on and explains this beatitude in a way.
In the passage immediately preceding the text we read today (and which followed the one read last Sunday), Jesus had sent his disciples on a mission, telling them that He was sending them out like lambs among wolves. Even as He urged them to be as innocent as doves yet as shrewd as serpents, He foretold that they would be betrayed by their own, persecuted, and thrown into prison; and that they would be hated just as He himself is hated.
Despite all this, He tells them, “Do not be afraid!”—a phrase that recurs like a refrain throughout this brief text. Do not be afraid of those who can kill your body but cannot harm your soul, your very being. Fear only God, who can send you to hell. But He is quick to add that God is a father who cares about every detail of our lives, including, He adds—no doubt with a touch of humor—the number of hairs on our heads (... perhaps there were some bald people in His audience!).
Jesus, during His interrogation by Pilate, told him that He came into this world to bear witness to the Truth (John 18:37). He calls on all His disciples never to compromise on the message of the Gospel, to call things by their proper names, to say “yes” when it is “yes” and “no” when it is “no.” Those who are faithful to the truth, in whatever field, pay a very high price for it, sometimes with their lives.
As Christianity spread during the early generations of Christians, the Roman Empire—which still ruled over much of the world—had its own state religion, and viewed any other religion as a threat. This is why the first Christian martyrs were often put to death simply because they professed their faith in Jesus and His message, and could have saved their lives by renouncing that faith. And it was then that those put to death “in odio fidei” (out of hatred for the faith) began to be regarded as “martyrs.”
The many martyrs of the 20th century—and now those of the 21st century—are rarely killed explicitly out of hatred for the faith. Those who kill them care nothing for the faith, not even enough to hate it. They die because of their fidelity to the Gospel message and its truth. They are generally killed by the powerful of this world, whom they disturb because they stand with the little ones, the poor, and the oppressed. They disturb either because they proclaim, or simply because they live out in truth, the Gospel message of sharing goods, respect for human dignity, and forgiveness of offenses. They are faithful followers of John the Baptist, whom we will celebrate in a few days (June 24), and who was beheaded simply because he had disturbed Herod, and especially Herodias, by reminding them of a fundamental moral principle that they had violated. Even before the proclamation of Jesus’ message that we read today, John was among those who did not fear those who can kill the body. He was a free man.
In our prayer today, let us remember all those who, in our time, under various forms of totalitarian regimes, or in the jungle of our ultra-liberal economies and selective democracies, or in the face of our orgies of violence in response to other acts of violence, continue to expose themselves to persecution and even risk their lives in defense of the oppressed and in living out their fidelity to the Gospel values of sharing, forgiveness, and love—including the least popular ones. They are the true martyrs of our time, regardless of their ideological affiliations and whether or not it can one day be proven that they died “in hatred of the faith.”
Armand VEILLEUX