12th Sunday Ordinary Time June 21, 2026

Readings: Jeremiah 20:10-13 Romans 5:12-15 Matthew 10:26-33

Today the first reading and the Gospel speak to us about proclaiming the Word of God to others and what that might mean in our own lives. So often we think that the obligation of talking about God is an obligation of the priests and of no one else. But once we start reading the Bible, we should realize that anyone who hears God’s Word then has a real obligation to proclaim that Word to others.

abandoned us and LL of our friends are watching to see if we shall make a mistake. On the other hand, this situation came about in the life of Jeremiah because of his dedication to preaching the Word of God that had come to him. We can ask ourselves today if we ever speak about our religious beliefs to others. Probably we are uneasy about speaking about these beliefs because we know that the area of belief is an easy topic over which we can fight with others.

The Gospel is telling us the same message about our belief in the Lord Jesus: be strong, be confident and proclaim aloud what you believe. We Christians today are often so timid about stating our beliefs. Even more so are we Catholics, who at times would rather not speak up at all. Sometimes it is because we don’t really accept what the Church teaches. If that is the case, we need to look again at our beliefs. As Catholics we believe that Christ is truly present in the Church and truly present in the teaching authority of the Church. We need to be honest enough in the long run to recognize that if we are going to be Catholics, we need to accept all the teachings of the Church—and we need to be able to embrace those teachings as a way of wisdom in our lives.

So today we might pray for a deepening of our faith. We can pray that we will accept all the teachings of our Church. And we can pray for the strength, wisdom and knowledge to proclaim those teachings with all our heart.