📖 Homily Today

Do Not Be Afraid: The Courage of Those Who Seek God

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the memorial of Saint Benedict, that great abbot whose Rule shaped the very soul of Western monasticism and, through it, the soul of Europe itself. As we honor him, our readings speak to us of two things that Benedict knew intimately: the call to encounter the living God, and the courage to answer that call without fear.

In our First Reading, the prophet Isaiah is granted an overwhelming vision. He sees the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, with the seraphim crying out, "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts!" And what is Isaiah's first response? Not joy, but terror. "Woe is me, I am doomed!" he cries. "For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips, yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!"

Notice, dear friends, what happens next. God does not leave Isaiah in his fear. A seraph takes a burning coal from the altar and touches his lips, saying, "Your wickedness is removed, your sin purged." Only then, purified and unafraid, does Isaiah hear the Lord ask, "Whom shall I send?" And he answers with those beautiful words: "Here I am. Send me!"

This is the pattern of every holy vocation. First comes the encounter with God's holiness, which reveals our own smallness and sin. Then comes God's purifying mercy. And finally comes the sending. Saint Benedict understood this deeply. In the prologue to his Rule, he begins with a simple word of invitation: "Listen carefully, my son, to the master's instructions, and attend to them with the ear of your heart." Benedict knew that before we can be sent, we must first learn to listen for the God who calls.

But here is where many of us hesitate. Like Isaiah, we feel unworthy. We are conscious of our unclean lips, our failures, our fears. We wonder how God could possibly use someone like us. And this is precisely where the Gospel meets us today.

In Matthew's Gospel, Jesus speaks three times those words that echo throughout all of Scripture: "Do not be afraid." He tells his disciples not to fear those who can only harm the body. He assures them that even the sparrows are cared for by the Father, and that "even the hairs of your head are all counted." Then comes the heart of his message: "So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows."

Brothers and sisters, do you hear how tenderly God speaks? The same God whose holiness made Isaiah tremble is the God who numbers the hairs on your head. His majesty and his intimacy are not opposites. The Lord of hosts, enthroned above the seraphim, knows you personally and loves you completely.

Jesus then gives us our mission: "Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father." We are called, like Isaiah, like Benedict, to bear witness to Christ without fear. Saint Benedict lived this witness not through dramatic heroics but through a hidden life of prayer, work, and community. His motto, "ora et labora," pray and work, reminds us that holiness is woven into the ordinary fabric of our days.

The Catechism teaches that God "calls us to a deeper intimacy with him" and that our vocation is ultimately to love as he loves. Saint Gregory the Great, who wrote the life of Benedict, said of him that "he could not have taught what he had not first lived." This is the challenge for us: not merely to know about God, but to encounter him and let that encounter transform how we live.

My dear friends, where in your life is Christ asking you to acknowledge him without fear? Perhaps in your family, where faith has grown quiet. Perhaps at work, where it is easier to blend in than to stand for the truth. Perhaps in your own heart, where old fears keep you from surrendering fully to God's love. Whatever it is, hear again those words: "Do not be afraid."

In a few moments, we will approach this altar, where the same purifying fire that touched Isaiah's lips comes to us in the Body and Blood of Christ. The Eucharist is our burning coal, cleansing our sin and strengthening us for mission. As you receive the Lord today, let his touch remove your fear. And when he asks, "Whom shall I send?" may we answer with Isaiah, with Benedict, and with all the saints: "Here I am, Lord. Send me."

Amen.

Sources Consulted

1. The Rule of Saint Benedict, Prologue and selected chapters 2. Saint Gregory the Great, *Dialogues*, Book II (Life of Saint Benedict) 3. Catechism of the Catholic Church, sections on vocation and the Eucharist (nn. 1–3, 1324–1327) 4. St. John Chrysostom, *Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew* 5. The Navarre Bible Commentary on Isaiah and the Gospel of Matthew 6. Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience on Saint Benedict of Nursia (April 9, 2008) 7. Brant Pitre, *Introduction to the Spiritual Life* (on encounter and vocation) 8. USCCB, New American Bible Revised Edition, footnotes on Isaiah 6 and Matthew 10