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Gospel Commentary for friday, October 17, 2025
I sometimes meet Christians who live in fear—people who feel threatened, as if everything around us today were somehow dangerous for the Church. They’re convinced that the Church is being persecuted as never before. For them, the persecutions of the early centuries under the Roman Empire were nothing compared to what’s happening now. They might admit that this isn’t a persecution of blood and death, but they insist it’s even worse—a subtle one that slowly eats away at the foundations of our faith, as Christian presence seems to fade. Even the decline in priestly vocations is, for them, a sign that the end is near.
To all who think and feel that way, we need to proclaim clearly the words of Jesus in today’s Gospel: “Do not be afraid.” The Church is nothing more than the concrete form through which the Gospel of Jesus has been proclaimed over the past twenty centuries. What truly matters isn’t the Church as it looks today—with its parishes, dioceses, priests, bishops, or cardinals. What truly matters is the love of God revealed in Jesus and in the Good News of the Kingdom. What truly matters is the saving will of the God of Life, made visible in Jesus—a will that is universal, filled with love, mercy, and compassion. And it’s that same God who continues to guide our history toward salvation, toward the coming of his Kingdom.
This is not a time for discouragement or disappointment. Hope and trust in God—our God—must be the distinctive mark of every Christian. Because even in the hardest, most complicated situations, we’re called to recognize the free and loving action of God, quietly working in the human heart and opening us to true Life.