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Commentary on the Gospel for Saturday, October 19, 2024
We are all stutterers!
The movie The King’s Speech is famous and significant because it somehow makes us empathize with those who are not fully qualified for a job and yet have to perform it. We sympathize with poor George because we have found ourselves in a situation (on our own scale) from which we did not know how to get out. The king had to speak out because not doing so could lead his country to disaster.
But we have even older testimonies of this very thing. That is, it seems to be a fairly universal experience of insecurity and lack of confidence in one’s ability. Moses was a stutterer; Jeremiah claims that he is a child and cannot speak; David was the youngest of the brothers and is called to be king; Amos, Nehemiah….. And then the disciples of Jesus, some rude and unenlightened men. The figure of the reluctant prophet is everywhere. How often have we found ourselves reluctant prophets? There is no certainty (and in some cases the absolute certainty of impossibility) that it can be done. And here we are told today that above all real or imagined problems of self-esteem, we must place a trust that has almost nothing to do with us: «When they bring you before the synagogues, before the magistrates and the authorities, do not worry about how or with what reasons you will defend yourself or what you will say, because the Holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you have to say.
Don’t worry about that. But on the other hand, there is a serious warning: not speaking, not witnessing, not acknowledging Christ can have even more serious consequences. Instead of worrying about what to say, worry about not saying anything. Worry when a paralyzing fear leads you to silence… with the disastrous personal result of not being recognized by Christ and the disastrous result for others of not hearing the word of truth and salvation because we have not spoken it. Do not worry. Worry. Worry a lot.