How many of you were captivated by the search of the submersible Titan this week? As a scuba diver and one who loves the deep blue sea, it certainly caught my attention. The dangerous drama of those five adventurous men inside this tiny, 22-foot-long experimental vessel traveling 13,000 feet into the darkness of the deep to catch a momentary glimpse of the Titanic that has been resting on the ocean floor for over a hundred years was riveting and the fear of their loss from either hypothermia or lack of oxygen was all in the news. And then came the somber announcement on Thursday that debris of the Titan had been found just 1,600 feet from the Titanic. How long did the men know about their impending death? Was it instantaneous or were there warning signs before the craft imploded? How frightening it must have been for them. One of the passengers – the youngest on the craft – had even expressed his fears before taking the voyage.
Today’s readings speak of fear in the face of danger for both Jeremiah and the followers of our Lord. In today’s first reading, we hear Jeremiah cry out “Terror on every side!” as he experienced frightening hardships, including arrest, imprisonment, even being thrown into a dry cistern at the hands of the people he was trying to save through his prophecies. In his fear, he had good reason to lose hope, but he kept his faith in God. “The Lord is with me, like a mighty champion,” we hear him proclaim this morning. “Sing to the Lord, praise the Lord, for he has rescued the life of the poor from the power of the wicked!” It is a wonderfully positive prayer in the midst of life-threatening adversity; how inspiring!
Consider this prayer in the light of Jesus’ words to the Twelve: “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,” we hear him admonish us today. Jeremiah would have understood exactly what Jesus meant. Though he experienced fear and inner turmoil, he did not let those feelings overpower his faith and trust in God. He knew that the Lord was with him and would always win in the end. The Lord, he knew, would save the faithful.
Martyrs who have died professing their faith in Jesus Christ down through the ages – even until today – understand this as well. They know that if they profess Christ with their dying breath, Jesus himself would acknowledge them before his heavenly Father, as we hear Jesus reassure us in today’s gospel. Conversely, if they deny Christ, they may save their lives – but they would lose their souls. That, the martyrs know, is much worse than any earthly suffering.
This message that we hear today is not just for prophets and martyrs. Every moment of our lives is an opportunity to acknowledge, or deny, Jesus before others. One of my favorite authors, C.S. Lewis, wrote in his book entitled Mere Christianity, “Every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different than it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing into a heavenly creature or a hellish creature.”
Each choice we make will be made known at the end of time. Each choice can lead us closer to heaven or closer to hell. This should effect how we view our daily lives. Some days we face hardships; we all do. But we can choose to keep faith in God, and sing his praises along with Jeremiah: “The Lord is with me.” Truly, the Lord is with us even now in the Eucharist, which nourishes us on our journey.
As we face the fears that inevitably come to us as we struggle to attain that illusive prize – not a momentary glimpse of a vessel that was once the pride of the sea but now sits rusting on the ocean floor but the eternal gaze upon God in all his everlasting glory – let us realize that our Father who loves us will grant us the graces we need to overcome our fears. And the Holy Spirit will help guide us, giving us the long view of eternity, knowing that our choices today will affect our souls forever.