BE NOT AFRAID!
In early June, the Vatican launched into space a satellite called Spei Satelles, ‘the guardian of hope.’ It contains a nanobook with words of hope from Pope Francis’s book “Why Are You Afraid? Have You No Faith?”
In today’s Gospel, the word ‘fear’ is mentioned by Jesus three times, and He gives solutions to quell these fears:
- Secrets will be revealed
- Your soul is in God’s hands
- You are valued more than anything
But there is a cautionary note: if you deny Christ, He will deny you before His Father. Therefore, do not be afraid to profess your faith anywhere, anytime, any place. Your strength and hope are in God. Fr. Richard Rohr discovered that the word fear is mentioned 365 times in the Bible. Could that be a message from God to trust in Him every day of our lives? Remember what the prophet Isaiah writes? God tells us not to fear because He redeemed us and called us by name – we are His and belong to Him. Therefore, as a good father, He cares for and watches over us and gives us what we need.
Scripture says: “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him Who can destroy both body and soul to hell” (Matthew 10:28). Granted our fears, whatever they are - and psychologists tell us there are over 500 of them on the phobia list - we can be assured that God’s loving mercy and compassion will enable us to overcome that fear.
Surely, we have fears of many kinds - stop for a moment and think of yours – no one is exempt from them – even the Blessed Mother. The first words the Angel spoke to her were: “Do not fear; the Lord is with you.” Indeed, the Lord is within each of us. To the Hebrews, the word fear has several meanings and needs to be understood in the full context of the sentence.
If our faith is as strong as possible, then fear should mean not fright but reverence, awe, and respect for God’s mercy and compassion. I ask you to ponder the Holy Father’s questions: “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?"
Sister Celeste Hupert, CSFN
