St. Paul the Apostle, Unknown author / Public domain
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; fear him rather who can destroy both body and soul in hell. (Mt. 12:28, Jerusalem Bible)
I used to be terrified of this passage because I thought that the one that Jesus was referring to was the devil. Yet Jesus was not talking about the evil one. He was talking about the Father because reply he gives for the next two questions he posed referred to His Father. In the Jerusalem Bible, the title given to this passage of scripture is: Open and fearless speech. What was Jesus speaking of just before this passage? He was talking about the persecution those who follow Him would suffer. Taking that into account, Jesus is encouraging his disciples to have the courage to speak the truth. As disciples, we should have the courage to declare Jesus is Lord before people.
When the circuit breaker ended three weeks ago, many thought that Mass would be celebrated in a restricted manner. However, that was not the case. Private worship was allowed but there were safe management plans that needed to be submitted to the authorities. I was trying to work out the plans with the parish task force so that we can submit a proper safe management plan. Before that came to pass, a new advisory was issued a few days ago, which meant that we had to relook at the plans and make adjustments. So our parish is still not ready to resume any activity yet. As our church is also going through restoration, there are added factors to consider. Please be assured that we are doing the best we can.
I mention this because there are many who are upset and angry because things don’t seem to be moving as quickly as they would like. A thought did cross my mind: the virus only causes harm to the body but the unavailability of Masses harms the soul. It was only a split second before another thought came: irresponsibility also harms the soul. This ties in with the Gospel passage I had quoted above.
While it is true that only God can destroy the soul in hell, He will not because he loves us. However, there is another who can harm our souls: we, ourselves, can cause harm to our souls. Let me use a simple analogy. Assassins can kill me. However, if I neglect my health, I am also slowly killing myself. Our soul’s health depends on love. We maintain our soul’s health by loving God and we express our love of God by loving our neighbour. When we are only concerned about our own needs and wants that we forget about the needs of our neighbour, can we say that we are loving our neighbour? All the regulations that are given to us are for the purpose of reducing the risk of infection of the people around us. Loving our neighbour means that I must be responsible for acting in such a way as to reduce that risk of infection. I have heard someone remark that the Church is too kiasu. Does that remark show a responsible attitude? If everyone is knowledgeable and responsible, there would be no need to set out directives. Ironically, it is because of the few irresponsible Catholics that the church needs to be cautious. It is true that we cannot consider all possibilities to act. However, it would neither be responsible nor loving on the part of the church to disregard the real probability that a few irresponsible Catholics would end up being the cause of a new cluster of infection to occur.
The title of today’s passage in the Jerusalem Bible: Open and fearless speech, is not about being unafraid to proclaim anything we think to be true. It speaks of an attitude to be open to the truth of any situation before speaking with courage. In truly loving my neighbour, I am declaring myself for Jesus. Apart from that, could I truly say I am authentically declaring myself for Jesus? Perhaps we could reflect on our motives and ask God to help us to be open to the truth from God, rather than demands from elsewhere.
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