Fear Not

April 10, Monday in the Octave of Easter
Acts 2:14, 22-33 and Matthew 28: 8-15

I would say there are different kinds of fear but I would like to focus on two: fear of God or what we call reverential fear and fear because God is absent in our lives.

Fear of God is good. It is not fear because God gets angry at us but because we do not want to displease Him because of our great love for Him. It propels us then to always want to do good.

But many of our fears stem from the absence of God in our lives not because He is not there but because we either do not believe that He is there or we ignore His presence in our lives.

The first reading speaks of Christ never abandoning us even in His death. The responsorial Psalm also offers us a beautiful prayer and reminder that God is our protector and refuge. But just as the first reading says, we need to be witnesses to this truth. Are we?

What manifests that we stand witnesses to this truth?

The Gospel tells us ‘do not be afraid’ and there’s another instruction ‘go tell my brothers’. It’s telling us not to be afraid to do our mission. It’s telling us not to be afraid to do good. It’s telling us that no matter the challenges and pains that come with doing our mission, we should not be afraid. We should not be afraid to let go of our conveniences to do God’s will.

In this age when following the way of Christ is an unpopular choice, it takes great courage indeed to truly follow Christ and continue His mission.

What are your worries? What are your fears? Are these related to doing Christ’s mission? Today we are reminded to fear not. But if our fears are those of our vested interests, self-focused, then we will forever live in fear.