July 11
Our Lady of Cléry
near Orléans, France
(15th Century)
Gospel: Matthew 10:24-33 (Saint
Benedict, Abbot)
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| Image created by Google AI Image Creator. |
Today’s Gospel
tells us plainly not to be afraid of those who can harm the body but not the
soul. Jesus reassures His disciples that nothing is hidden that won’t
eventually be known, and that the same God who notices a sparrow’s fall has
counted every hair on their heads. Fear, He says, has limits, and He names
exactly where those limits are.
Fear runs most
of our decisions more than we’d like to admit, fear of what people think, fear
of failure, fear of being truly known. We avoid honesty, avoid risk, avoid
vulnerability, all to protect something that, in the end, Jesus says isn’t even
the part worth protecting. He’s not telling us nothing bad can happen. He’s
telling us what’s actually worth being afraid of, and it’s smaller than we
think.
Let today be
the day you do the thing fear has been talking you out of, the honest
conversation, the apology, the step toward something God’s been nudging you
toward. You are worth more than many sparrows, Jesus says, and the sparrow that
falls He is aware of. Whatever you’re afraid of, will be lost by being
faithful, He’s already counted the cost and called you worth it.
Today the
Marian calendar acknowledges Our Lady of Cléry, near Orléans, France, from the
fifteenth century, a shrine that stood through wars and uncertainty without
losing the faith of the people who kept returning to it. Our Lady’s faith never
wavered under threat either. Something to think about: What fear has been
quietly steering more of your decisions away from making those choices, than
you realized?
Rosary Man Jim 🌹
Freely given. Freely shared.
