REFLECTIONS TODAY
Jesus builds up his arguments to make his disciples courageous missionaries, proclaimers of the Kingdom of heaven. Without courage, there will be no progress. Mission is not easy. They will be persecuted. But they have to communicate whatever they have learned from Jesus.
Now, we may wonder why Jesus pays attention to their hairs. Since they are countless, nobody has attempted to count his or her hair. That would be an exercise in futility. Yet for us, readers, when Jesus mentions the hair, we should stop for a moment to reflect on this insignificant matter. God pays attention even to one hair. We do not care if it falls down, because much more are left behind on our head. But God does. If God cares for this little thing, how much more about our whole body, whole soul, whole heart, and whole being?
Gospel • Matthew 10:24-33
Jesus said to his Apostles: “No disciple is above his teacher, no slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, for the slave that he become like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more those of his household!
“Therefore do not be afraid of them. 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.”
Source: “365 Days with the Lord 2022,” St. Pauls, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; Fax 632-895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.