St. Thomas of Canterbury - Fear not - you are more value than many sparrows

Fear not - you are more value than many sparrows

According to Matthew

Sunday 21 June 2026

Father Adrian's Homily

FIRST READING Jeremiah 20:10-13

A reading from the Prophet Jeremiah.

Jeremiah said: I hear many whispering. Terror is on every side! ‘Denounce him! Let us denounce him!’ say all my close friends, watching for my fall. ‘Perhaps he will be deceived; then we can overcome him and take our revenge on him.’ But the Lord is with me as a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble; they will not overcome me. They will be greatly shamed, for they will not succeed. Their eternal dishonour will never be forgotten. O Lord of hosts, who tests the righteous, who sees the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you have I committed my cause.

Sing to the Lord; praise the Lord! For he has delivered the life of the needy from the hand of evildoers.

The word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM Psalm 69(68):8-10. 14, 17. 33-35. R.14c

R. In your great mercy, answer me, O Lord.

It is for you that I suffer taunts,

that shame has covered my face.

To my own kin I have become an outcast,

a stranger to the children of my mother.

Zeal for your house consumes me,

and taunts against you fall on me.

R. In your great mercy, answer me, O Lord.

But I pray to you, O Lord,

at an acceptable time.

In your great mercy, answer me, O God,

with your faithful salvation.

Lord, answer, for your mercy is kind;

in your great compassion, turn towards me.

R. In your great mercy, answer me, O Lord.

The poor when they see it will be glad,

and God-seeking hearts will revive;

for the Lord attends to the needy,

and does not spurn his own in their chains.

Let the heavens and the earth give him praise,

the seas and everything that moves in them.

R. In your great mercy, answer me, O Lord.

SECOND READING Romans 5:12-15

A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans.

Brothers and Sisters: Just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned — for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for many.

The word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

GOSPEL Matthew 10:26-33

At that time: Jesus instructed his Apostles: ‘Have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father knowing. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.’

The Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

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