DAILY HOMILIES #fear

Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Peter and John were ready to face whatever comes their way in their proclamation of the Good News. Are you still scared of what people can do to you? Are you scared of letting your light shine? Ask yourself – If I am so scared of dying, is it possible to preserve my life for another hundred years?

Lies are destructive. Every time we tell a lie, we are taking sides with the devil whose very nature is that of telling lies. No amount of money is worth selling our lips or selling our conscience. No amount of lies can bury the truth. If we continue telling lies, it means we are refusing to rise from the grave with Jesus.

Child of God, let us examine our conscience: Do I feel threatened by anyone who is doing well in life? In all sincerity, are there certain persons I secretly envy and pray for their downfall because they have become successful or are now far ahead of me? Do I kill through character assassination – bearing false tales about others just to bring them down? Perhaps, I am guilty of the fear of the Jews.

The easiest way to drop the weights of sin, fear and doubt is to remove yourself from the midst of people who tend to carry these weights. You must put certain persons out of your life; those who constantly lure you into sin, those who inspire fear in you always, those who downplay God or claim He doesn’t exist. Everybody cannot be your friend.

The disciples of Jesus had every reason to be afraid because they faced a great storm but instead of declaring faith in God, they expected the worst to happen. They were so frightened that they almost forgot God was physically present with them in the boat. The moment they remembered Jesus, He woke up and rebuked the sea. Never forget that God is with you. No matter what you face, call on God first and keep reminding yourself of what God has done in the past. You may not delete fear from your mind completely but you have to allow your faith overpower that negative voice within you. Use your faith to cure your fear.

Let us not be overcome by the pervasive evil around us. If you cannot beat them, don’t join them. Continue to raise your heads high in virtue and never give in to sin because your redemption is close at hand.

“And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Luke 11:9-10). Fear not. Pray with faith.

Herod was obviously not thinking straight when he promised even half his kingdom to a little girl. What if she had asked for his own head? Think before you speak. Be a master of your emotions. In moments of anger, hold it. In moments of excitement, hold it also.

If your conscience is clear, you have no reason whatsoever to be living in fear. If it is not your time, nothing, nothing in heaven or on earth can kill you. You will walk on water and you will not sink. You will pass through fire and it will be cold. Your enemies will set different traps for you and you will scale through like breeze. Fear Not.

Are you scared of terrorists hiding in every nook and cranny of our nation? Have you lost all confidence in our security architecture? There is a silent war going on in our land and like Ahaz, we are poorly equipped in terms of weapons and ammunition. While we defend ourselves, let us not forget that we serve a powerful God who knows how to fight for his children. Let us increase our prayers and repent from any sin that may become a hindrance to our prayer or attract God’s wrath.

Know that as a labourer, you have become very precious and valuable to God. Jesus says: “You are of more value than sparrows.” God will always be there for you. Even if you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, because you mean a lot to God, no evil shall overcome you.

if you still believe in the power of prayers, that is, if you still have faith in God, then this is time to increase your prayers. God has rescued his children from worse things than what we are facing today. It may seem as if God is sleeping but we know that He cannot sleep. Let us pray until something happens. Let us pray until Jesus gets up to say to the storms around us: “Be Still.” Let us pray like that woman who kept going back to the judge demanding justice until she got an answer. (Cf. Luke 18:1-8). Let our faith be large enough to swallow our fears.