Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time - June 21, 2020

Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time - June 21, 2020

Reflection

Jeremiah is one of the most persecuted prophets. And he laments to God in the midst of the betrayals against him. Despite the insurmountable difficulty he faces both outside and inside Kingdom, and the injustice he received from his own countrymen, he resolutely submitted himself to God. By proclamation of faith he has shown us that God does not abandon his children.

God knows that man passes through the valley of tears. Pain and death is the consequence of sin, of the separation of humanity from God. Every human being suffers, both the good and the bad. But God is greater than sin and death, and he willed to overturn the curse of sin. Jesus reminds us through the Gospel reading that God is a Father who understands our pain and suffering.

Jesus is the overturning of death and sin. He undoes the disobedience of Adam and in doing so became the source of salvation. Jesus is the salvation of every Jeremiah today, for each person who suffers social injustice and the sting of personal sin. He is the compassion and understanding of God; and in his eyes, each person has worth. Do not be afraid.

First Reading

Jeremiah 20:10-13

Jeremiah said:

“I hear the whisperings of many:

‘Terror on every side!

Denounce! let us denounce him!’

All those who were my friends

are on the watch for any misstep of mine.

‘Perhaps he will be trapped; then we can prevail,

and take our vengeance on him.’

But the LORD is with me, like a mighty champion:

my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph.

In their failure they will be put to utter shame,

to lasting, unforgettable confusion.

O LORD of hosts, you who test the just,

who probe mind and heart,

let me witness the vengeance you take on them,

for to you I have entrusted my cause.

Sing to the LORD,

praise the LORD,

for he has rescued the life of the poor

from the power of the wicked!”

Responsorial Psalm

PS 69:8-10, 14, 17, 33-35

R. (14c) Lord, in your great love, answer me.

For your sake I bear insult,

and shame covers my face.

I have become an outcast to my brothers,

a stranger to my children,

Because zeal for your house consumes me,

and the insults of those who blaspheme you fall upon me.

R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.

I pray to you, O LORD,

for the time of your favor, O God!

In your great kindness answer me

with your constant help.

Answer me, O LORD, for bounteous is your kindness;

in your great mercy turn toward me.

R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.

“See, you lowly ones, and be glad;

you who seek God, may your hearts revive!

For the LORD hears the poor,

and his own who are in bonds he spurns not.

Let the heavens and the earth praise him,

the seas and whatever moves in them!’‘

R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.

Second Reading

Romans 5:12-15

Brothers and sisters:

Through one man sin entered the world,

and through sin, death,

and thus death came to all men, inasmuch as all sinned—

for up to the time of the law, sin was in the world,

though sin is not accounted when there is no law.

But death reigned from Adam to Moses,

even over those who did not sin

after the pattern of the trespass of Adam,

who is the type of the one who was to come.

But the gift is not like the transgression.

For if by the transgression of the one the many died,

how much more did the grace of God

and the gracious gift of the one man Jesus Christ

overflow for the many.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 10:26-33.

Jesus said to the Twelve:

“Fear no one.

Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed,

nor secret that will not be known.

What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light;

what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.

And 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.

Everyone who acknowledges me before others

I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father.

But whoever denies me before others,

I will deny before my heavenly Father.”