A Franciscan Gospel Reflection for the 12th Sunday of Ordinary Time 2026 is here for your prayer. What have been some of the fears you have experienced, now or in the past?
The Gospel background and reflection questions are prepared and distributed by Franciscan Sister of Christian Charity Sister Anne Marie Lom, OSF and Joe Thiel, as edited from Reflections authored by Fr. Paul Gallagher, OFM. The excerpts from the Sunday readings are prepared by Joe Thiel. To read or download the complete pdf with excerpts for your prayer, please click here:Twelve Sunday of Ordinary Time 2026 Franciscan Reflection
Photos: Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity St. Francis Chapel; Poor Clare Nuns, Sauk Rapids, Minnesota stained-glass chapel window Are you called to be a Sister or a Nun?
Matthew 10:26-33
Jesus said to the Twelve: “Fear no one. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.
And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge. Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.
Background:
The Gospel text from last Sunday (Matthew 9:36-10:8) described how Jesus was moved at the sight of the crowds who were abandoned like sheep without a shepherd. Then he called his disciples and commissioned twelve of them to be apostles, and he began preparing to send them out with authority to proclaim the kingdom of God to the lost sheep if Israel. This took us into part of the second of five major discourses within Matthew’s Gospel. This discourse deals with the mission of Jesus and the disciples. (Matt 10:1-42) The first eight verses of this first discourse, dealing with the naming and preparing to send out of the twelve, were part of our Gospel last Sunday.
If time permits, it would be beneficial to read the first twenty-five verses of the tenth chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, in preparation for your reflection on the Gospel for this Sunday. To summarize, Matthew
continues in that discourse with Jesus instructing the apostles as to how they are to travel. While acknowledging the danger involved in being sent to the towns and villages, he asks them to rely on the Jewish code of hospitality for strangers. Therefore, they are not to take money or provisions for themselves, and they are to stay at only one person’s house for the duration of their visit in any particular town. (Matt 10:9-15) Also they need to be prepared for rejection and persecution. Jesus assures them that even if others reject them, God will still be with them. He concludes by saying that a slave is not greater than the master. This may imply that if He, their master, has been sent out by His Father to be with them and he faced rejection and harsh treatment, they should expect the same mission and possible mistreatment. (Matt 10:16-25)
The Gospel for this Sunday then continues with Jesus’ further instruction to the apostles, where he tells them not to be afraid. The direct exhortation to “fear no one” may suggest that, for the faith-filled disciple, fear should be nonexistent. However, Jesus seems to acknowledge the fear the disciples may experience as they face the difficulties they will encounter. Jesus does not suggest that they should not be afraid of anything. Rather, he tells them they should only be afraid of the one who has the ability to bring upon them much greater pain: the physical, eternal pain of life without God. That would be worse than any physical suffering they might have to endure on their mission.
Jesus then uses two images to reassure the disciples of God’s intimate concern for each of them. God is mindful of each of the numerous sparrows in the world, and even the countless hairs on humans’ heads. This is a reminder to the disciples that even though they may feel that they have been abandoned or forgotten by God in difficult times, this is not so. God is acutely aware of each of them, and the hairs of one’s head are beyond being counted, yet God knows each of these. Therefore, it would be a serious mistake to give in to one’s doubts and turn from God.
Reflection Questions:
- What have been some of the fears you have experienced, now or in the past?
- What effect has fear had on you and how you live your life?
- Can you recall places in the Scriptures where God responds to the fears of the people, or those he has chosen to be his servants?
- Can you imagine that God knows every hair on your head? How do you feel about God who knows you so well?
- Are there other images from the bible or other places that speak to you of God’s closeness to you?
- What has your relationship with God taught you about God in whispers, that you would like to proclaim from the housetops?
- Are you familiar with Psalms that speak of fear?
- What is it that is so important to God, that God would ask you to face the possibility of your deepest fears?
- Can you take some time now to talk with God about your fears, or how you hear God asking you to address those fears?
