I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body

Gospel of the Day (Luke 12:1-7)

Meanwhile, so many people were crowding together that they were trampling one another underfoot. He began to speak, first to his disciples, "Beware of the leaven--that is, the hypocrisy--of the Pharisees.

There is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known.

Therefore whatever you have said in the darkness will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed on the housetops.

I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body but after that can do no more.

I shall show you whom to fear. Be afraid of the one who after killing has the power to cast into Gehenna; yes, I tell you, be afraid of that one.

Are not five sparrows sold for two small coins? Yet not one of them has escaped the notice of God.

Even the hairs of your head have all been counted. Do not be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows.

***

Reflections:

"I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body"

Anyone who does not know God, even though he may entertain all kinds of hopes, is ultimately without hope, without the great hope that sustains the whole of life (cf. Eph 2,12). Man's great, true hope which holds firm in spite of all disappointments can only be God—God who has loved us and who continues to love us «to the end,» until all «is accomplished» (cf. Jn 13,1; 19,30).

Whoever is moved by love begins to perceive what «life» really is. He begins to perceive the meaning of the word of hope that we encountered in the Baptismal Rite: from faith I await «eternal life»—the true life which, whole and unthreatened, in all its fullness, is simply life. Jesus, who said that he had come so that we might have life and have it in its fullness, in abundance (Jn 10,10), has also explained to us what «life» means: «this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent» (Jn 17,3). Life in its true sense is not something we have exclusively in or from ourselves: it is a relationship. And life in its totality is a relationship with him who is the source of life. If we are in relation with him who does not die, who is Life itself and Love itself, then we are in life. Then we «live».