October 20 2023: Bible Verse of the Day – Friday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time, Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A – Do Not be Afraid of Those Who Kill the Body But Cannot Kill the Soul – Matthew 10:24-33, Luke 12:1-7
28 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.
32 Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father.
33 But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.” – Matthew 10:24-33, Luke 12:1-7
Catholic Readings For Today
Friday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time Year 1
Friday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time Year 2
Saturday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time Year 1
Saturday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time Year 2
Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
Today’s Bible Verse of the Day Reflections
Be afraid of the one who can destroy both body and soul in Gehenna and not the one who can only destroy the body. What does this mean?
Man can kill the body but can do nothing to the soul. God can kill both body and soul and also destroy them. To kill means to incapacitate the body. To destroy means to completely make something useless.
In this context Jesus tells us to only fear the one who can destroy both the body and soul; and this is God. Let me give you an example of where you can be torn between choosing either God or man.
Suppose you go to a pagan country and you have been arrested for preaching in the Name of Jesus. You are taken to court and an evil magistrate gives you the choice to either deny God and go scot-free or fail to deny Him and get life imprisonment or get hanged. Which one can you opt for? Due to our human weakness, your guess is as good as mine.
These are the choices that the martyrs had to make. They became saints because they made the bold choice of not denying God.
Jesus is emphasizing this virtue today because man cannot condemn you to hell, man has no such powers. Jesus is also not mincing His words when reminding us that hell is more painful than prison.
Let us resolve today that we will act like the martyrs and saints did when they were confronted with the tough decision of choosing either Jesus or man.
Let us choose Jesus because we have evidence that when the martyrs chose Him, He did not abandon them. They are now in heaven together with the communion of the angels and other saints.
Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, we choose You because we now know that we were created to know, love, serve, praise and glorify You. We also know that if we fail to do that we will fall into disgrace and You will hide Your face from us. Lord help us so that we may never deny you regardless of the challenge we may face. Amen.
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