DAILY HOMILIES #fear

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.

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.

If we truly love God, we would trust Him completely. Even when things do not go as we would have preferred, we still continue to allow those words were spoken by Jesus to echo in our minds: “Take heart, it is I; have no fear.”

The key to avoiding secret sins is deepening our fear of God; consciously reminding ourselves that God is the only one that deserves our fear since he can not only kill the body but has the power to cast us into hell fire

Do I still fear God? Or better put, do I believe that God is stronger than witches and wizards, demons, and principalities? Do I believe there is more power in the Bible, in Holy Communion, in the Blessed Sacrament than a combination of all the strongest of the shrines of the local gods today?

The reason you feel paralysed with fear now is that you find it hard to imagine a better tomorrow, you still cannot see any light at the end of your tunnel but know this, that if Jesus rose from the dead, your trials will end one day.

Mariam and Aaron must have fallen into the trap of over-familiarity. They looked down on Moses and questioned his spiritual authority. Be careful about the way you speak of others. Avoid having to run others down especially when you do not know all the facts. The eighth commandment forbids bearing false witness against others.

“Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 10:31-32)