Fr Antony Christy,
Challenging the culture of death towards a culture of faith!
June 25, 2023 – 12th Sunday in Ordinary time
Jeremiah 20: 10-13; Romans 5: 12-15; Matthew 10: 26-33
Look around and observe what is happening out there… there are these divisive forces at work who are determined to break humanity into pieces and make everyone suffer to the maximum; there are these moneyed who suddenly become experts in everything – in medical care, in artificial intelligence, in universal wellbeing, in common good and what not, and everyone finds it so compelling to nod to whatever they say; there are these who are blatantly selfish and greedy, but make everyone believe that they are the saviours of tomorrow; there are those who cause who much havoc for no reason, but are capable of threatening everyone to silence and do whatever they wish… what do they make a simple person like you and me feel? FEAR!
There is this fancy idea rather widespread, treating FEAR as an acronym, and expands it as False Evidence Appearing Real! In fact, fear exists only as long as darkness and falsity persist, isn’t it? That is why Jesus says today, do not fear, what is in the dark will see daylight soon and then you will know well. Imagine your fear of a ghost, it disappears as soon as light comes on! Or think of how your fear of what you would trample on, just vanishes the moment someone switches on a torch or search light! Fear is discarded by light, because fear is absence faith and faith is “the light that illumines our entire journey!” (cf. Lumen Fidei, n.1).
The Word this Sunday calls our attention to the fears that surround us and the unfortunate impact they can have on us, if we are inattentive about them. Look at Jeremiah, a man with so much enthusiasm and dedication to the Lord, for a moment he seems to be weak and trembles before this terror, about to give into its powers! The call is to remember that fear is a product of darkness.
Fear is the product of darkness: The prince of darkness makes his presence felt in fear; fear is the sign of the presence of evil! It is the power that the evil one claims to have over us children of God. There are any number of irrational fears that the evil one instills in our minds: the fear of failure, the fear of pain, the fear of shame, the fear of loss… But if we are truly children of God, children of Light, we shall see the foolishness that is involved in these fears. Why should I fear? What should I fear? What can harm me? What evil can come over me? Jesus reminds us, with a clarity of perspective: what is the worst that can happen to you – death? But why should I fear death?
In fact, the most powerful of the tools that the prince of darkness uses against us is death! And those who give into the influence of this evil prince, go on to become perpetrators of this culture of death!
Fear spreads a culture of death: The culture of death is the culture of needless fear, the fear that makes one give into evil, give into sin, justify sinfulness and promote the rule of the evil. It is the entry of sin and justification of sinfulness and a submission to sinfulness to the extent of making it a norm for life – creating a culture that leads to death, an eternal damnation that leads to absolute meaninglessness here in our life and for all eternity. When Jesus differentiates between a death that ends our bodily existence and the death that strips us of our total sense of meaning, Jesus invites us to look at our real essence – our innermost being, that is the very element of God that resides within us. The culture of death denies this vehemently, laughs at it, belittles it and tries to shun it out of our lives and of this world.
The sense of God within us – that is the light of Faith. That is the identity of the children of Light, the identity of the children of God, the identity of a culture of faith.
Fear is overcome by a culture of Faith: In the apostolic letter, Lumen Fidei, Pope Francis (and Pope Benedict) present to us faith as the light that can illumine the entire human existence and experience – our daily life, our struggles, our pains, our temptations, our failures, our faults and weaknesses, our sufferings and even our death! Jesus died, that we may live; in his death he brought endless life, not only to himself in resurrection, but to the entire creation that unites with him, the saviour of the universe. This is the culture of faith – a culture that promotes hope, love, righteousness, service and responsibility. It is in this culture that we can shine as lights, just as Jesus our inner light shines within us.
Mother Teresa said once, “death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies within/inside us while we are alive.” That is truly challenging the culture of death – not allowing death to reign over us, but overcoming death in the name of the One who has defeated death once and forever. We are people of light, people of life, people of faith and ours is a culture of faith! Faith dispels fears! And the culture of faith, is to notice, recognise and celebrate the presence of the Light within us, in order that we can share and spread it to the farthest end of the existence.
Let us heed to the call of the Word – to journey from fear to faith, to challenge the culture of death towards promoting a culture of faith!
Fr Antony Christy is a Salesian Priest from 2005, who has a Masters in Philosophy (specialisation in Religion) and a Masters in Theology (Specialisation in Catechetics). He has completed his doctoral research in Theology at Salesian Pontifical University, Rome. Walking with the Young towards a World of Peace and Dialogue is the passion that fires him on.