Do Not Be Afraid

By Fr. Conor Donnelly

(Proofread)

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me. I adore you with profound reverence. I ask your pardon for my sins and grace to make this time of prayer fruitful. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

The history of the Incarnation opens with the words, “Do not be afraid, Mary” (Luke 1:30). When the angel of Our Lord appears to Joseph, he says, “Do not be afraid, Joseph, son of David” (Matt. 1:20). And also when the angel appears to the shepherds, the angel says, “Do not be afraid, because I bring you tidings of great joy which shall be to all the people” (Luke 2:10).

This beginning of God’s coming into the world marks a style proper to Our Lord’s presence among men.

Later on, when Our Lord is accompanied by His disciples, Our Lord was crossing the little sea of Galilee. We’re told in St. Matthew that “a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves” (Matt. 8:24).

St. Mark puts this event in the context that it was the evening of the day on which Our Lord, as narrator, had narrated the parables of the kingdom of heaven (Mark 4:35).

The Gospel explains that Our Lord, tired out after many hours of preaching, was asleep in the boat. The storm must have been tremendous because His disciples, accustomed as they were to the sea, nevertheless saw themselves in danger.

They were experienced, burly fishermen. They had experienced all sorts of storms, but this was different. And so they cried out to Our Lord, “Lord, save us for we are perishing!” (Matt. 8:25). Strong words.

From the start, the apostles must have understood why Our Lord was asleep. He must have been very tired not to have been awakened by the waves and by the storm. They must have done everything in their power to avert the danger, rowing hard, furling the sails, bailing out water.

But gradually the storm began to get the better of them, and they realized they were in imminent danger of sinking. “Save us, Lord, we are perishing!” (Matt. 8:25).

And so, overcome with fear, they turned to Our Lord as their one and only recourse. “They went and woke him. … [And] he said to them, ‘Why are you afraid, O men of little faith?’” (Matt. 8:25-26).

Sometimes too, our faith can be too little when we also doubt that the storm will abate. Too often we allow ourselves to be discouraged by circumstances: sickness, work, reverses of fortune, opposition to us in our surroundings.

Fear is a phenomenon that covers almost every aspect of life. It’s often the result of ignorance or of selfishness stemming from an excessive concern for oneself or anxiety over things that perhaps will never happen. But above all else, fear often stems from the awareness that the security of our life is based on very weak foundations.

And here we are forgetting an essential truth: Jesus Christ is our constant security. This doesn’t mean that we’re insensitive to events, but that we should have more confidence in using the human means at our disposal.

We should never forget that to be close to Jesus, even when He appears to be asleep, is to be safe. When we are confused and going through unpleasant times, Our Lord does not forget us. St. Teresa of Ávila said, “He never fails his friends” (Teresa of Ávila, Life, 2,4).

God never comes to the aid of His children too late. Even when all seems lost, God will always be there at the right time—although it may be in secret and mysterious ways.

And so, complete confidence in God, while at the same time using all the human means available, gives the Christian great fortitude and a special feeling of peace when he’s up against the most painful events and circumstances.

“If you don’t abandon him,” we’re told in The Way, “he will not abandon you” (Josemaría Escrivá, The Way, Point 730).

We can tell Our Lord in our prayer that we don’t want to leave Him. Together with Him, every battle is a victory, though at first sight, it might seem a defeat.

St. Josemaría in Friends of God said, “At the very moment when everything seems to be collapsing before our eyes, we realize that quite the opposite is true, ‘because you, Lord, are my strength’ (Ps 43:2). If God is dwelling in our soul, everything else, no matter how important it may seem, is accidental and transitory, whereas we, in God, stand permanent and firm” (J. Escrivá, Friends of God, Point 92).

This is the medicine to purge from our lives all fears, tensions, and anxieties. St. Paul comforted the first Christians in Rome, who faced a panorama of great human difficulties, with the words, “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him? … Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? ... No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Rom. 8:31-37).

“For I am sure,” continues St. Paul, “that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus Our Lord” (Rom. 8:38–39).

By vocation, a Christian is a person dedicated to God, and one who has accepted all that may happen to them as being permitted by Him.

On another occasion, Our Lord taught the people around Him about the love and care that God has for every creature. His listeners were simple and honest people who gave praise to the majesty of God, but who lacked that special confidence of children in God their Father.

Probably, just as Our Lord was talking to them, a flock of sparrows came around pecking about for what they could pick up. But who bothers about a few sparrows?

Possibly the housewives of the village would sometimes buy them for a few pennies to flavor their ordinary meals. They were within reach of the most modest purse. They were of little value.

But Our Lord would indicate them with a gesture while saying to His audience, “Not one of these sparrows is forgotten before God” (Luke 12:6).

God knows everything. “Not one of these falls to the ground without your Father knowing it” (Matt. 10:29). And Our Lord continues to give us confidence, saying, “Fear not, you are worth more than a host of sparrows” (Matt. 10:31).

In all sorts of ways, Our Lord sends that message: “Do not be afraid.”

St. Thomas tells us: “Every man, no matter who he is, is God’s friend and should have great confidence in being freed by him from any type of affliction. … And as God helps his servants in a special way, he who serves God should live in great peace” (Thomas Aquinas, Expositio Symbolum Apostolorum, 5). There’s only one condition: be friends of God and live as His children.

St. Josemaría says, “Take rest in divine filiation. God is a Father full of tenderness, of infinite love” (J. Escrivá, Friends of God, Point 150). In every aspect of our life, be it human or supernatural, our ‘rest,’ our security, has no firmer foundation than our divine filiation. St. Peter says to the first Christians, “Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you” (1 Pet. 5:7).

Divine filiation cannot be considered as something merely metaphorical. It doesn’t mean that God simply treats us as a father and expects us to treat Him as sons. Rather, through the indwelling, sanctifying power of God, the Christian is a real son of God. This is a profound reality that affects man’s very being to such an extent that St. Thomas declares that through it, man “is made into a new being” (T. Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I, II, Question 110).

Divine filiation is the foundation for the freedom, security, and happiness of the children of God. In it, man finds the protection he needs and that fatherly warmth and certainty in the future which enables him to abandon himself without worrying about the unknown things that tomorrow may bring. It gives him the conviction that behind all the hazards of life, there always lies a very good reason.

“We know,” says St. Paul, “that in everything God works for the good” (Rom. 8:28). Even our mistakes and our wanderings from the right path always end up well, for, as St. Augustine comments, “God arranges absolutely everything to his own advantage” (Augustine, Treatise, On Rebuke and Grace).

The realization that one is a son of God produces in all the circumstances of the Christian’s life an essentially loving approach to the world, which shows itself mainly in the virtue of faith.

The person who knows themselves to be a child of God is always happy and never loses their peace of mind. This awareness frees them from useless stresses and when, out of weakness they may go wrong, if that person feels they’re a child of God, they’re able to turn to Him again, confident of being well received.

The thought of divine Providence helps us to approach God, not as a cold, indifferent, and distant being, but as a Father who is concerned for each one of us and who has given us an angel to watch over us on our road through life, an angel like one of those who announced the birth of Our Lord to the shepherds (Luke 2:8-14).

The peace of mind which this truth brings about in our way of acting and living does not come from turning our back on reality. Rather it consists in viewing it optimistically because we always trust in God’s help.

St. Cyprian says, “This is the difference between us and those who do not know God: they, in adversity, complain and grumble; we, on the other hand, are not drawn away from virtue by the things that go against us, but rather are strengthened in it (Cyprian, De moralitate, 13), because we know that “even the hairs of our head are numbered” (cf. Matt. 10:30).

The Second Vatican Council says, “The Son came, sent by the Father, who chose us in him before the foundation of the world and destined us to be adopted [sons], for it pleased him to restore all things in himself” (Vatican II, Lumen gentium, Point 3, November 21, 1964].

The first fruit of this restoration accomplished by Christ was our divine filiation. Not only did He restore man’s fallen nature, but He also gave us a new life, a supernatural life. It is the greatest gift we have received.

St. Josemaría in Friends of God says, “Anyone who does not realize he is a child of God is unaware of the deepest truth about himself. When he acts he lacks the dominion and self-mastery we find in those who love Our Lord above all else” (J. Escrivá, Friends of God, Point 26).

The awareness of our divine sonship defines and channels our way of acting and thus our prayer and behavior in every circumstance. It is a way of being and of living. And with this awareness, we also learn how to act in our dealings with our fellow men.

St. Josemaría in Christ is Passing By says, “Our Lord has come to bring peace, good news, and life to all men. Not only to the rich, not only to the poor, not only to the wise, not only to the simple, but to everyone, to brothers, for his brothers we are, children of the same Father, God.

“So there is only one race, the race of the children of God. There is only one color, the color of the children of God. And there is only one language, the language which speaks to the heart and to the mind without the noise of words, making us know God and love one another” (J. Escrivá, Christ is Passing By, Point 106).

The knowledge that we are children of God teaches us how to have peace of mind in the face of all kinds of events, no matter how painful they may seem. Our life becomes the active abandonment of children who trust completely in the goodness of a Father who, moreover, has control over all the powers of creation.

The certainty that God wants what is best for us leads us to a joyful abandonment full of peace, even in the most difficult moments of our lives.

That’s why St. Thomas More was able to write to his daughter from prison, saying, “Keep then your spirits high, my daughter, and don’t worry about me no matter what happens in this world. Nothing can happen to me that God doesn’t want. And all that he wants, no matter how bad it may appear to us, is really for the best” (Thomas More, Letter, July 5, 1535).

When we run into a problem or some unpleasantness, the attitude of a child of God is to ask for more help from his Father in heaven, to renew his determination to live a holy life in all circumstances, even in those that seem to be least favorable.

Divine sonship is the foundation of true freedom, the freedom of the children of God, in the face of every kind of oppression, and especially in the struggle to dominate our evil passions and inclinations (cf. Rom. 6:12-13).

Divine sonship is also the firm foundation of peace and joy. Being a child of God, the Christian finds the protection that he needs, that fatherly affection, as well as confidence in the face of an always uncertain future.

No matter what our situation, our awareness of being children of God is the foundation of great peace, even in the midst of privation and difficulty.

God always gives us the means to make progress. If we go to Him with childlike trust, in many cases He will give us these means in the most unexpected of ways.

We, on our part, should always bear in mind that in every moment, the essential thing in our life is the search for holiness through these very circumstances.

We will be good children of Our Father God insofar as we come close to Jesus. He will always show us the way that leads to the Father, and we’ll often be reminded of this when we go to kiss and adore the Child in the crib.

In the Adeste Fideles, we sing, Pro nobis egenum et foeno cubantem. Made poor for us, He lies amid the straw; we give Him warmth and lovingly embrace Him.

These days and hours are days to contemplate Jesus at His birth, He who in these days is the center of our attention and devotion. We can talk to Him in our prayer, listen to Him, adore Him in silence.

In the Adeste Fideles we also say, Sic nos amantem quis non redamaret? To Him who loves us, who will not return His love?

That love which must be practiced will be so through putting more love and refinement into our relations with those who are near us. Our divine sonship leads us to hold other people in great respect since they too are children of God.

Our Lady invites us to spend long periods beside the crib looking at her Son. We can ask her to reshape our behavior in accordance with the supreme dignity that we have received. We also beg her to help us never to forget, whatever our circumstances, that we are truly children of God. “And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with God” (Rom. 8:17), as St. Paul says.

We are children for whom a place in heaven awaits, prepared for us by Our Father God.

We can always be at peace, remembering those words of the angels to the shepherds: “Do not be afraid” (Luke 2:10). If we really seek God, everything will be an occasion for improvement.

As we finish our prayer, we can resolve to go to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament whenever the contradictions, the difficulties, or the trials of life put us in danger of losing our happiness and peace of mind.

We can also go close to Mary, to her whom we contemplate in the stable close to her Son. She will be our teacher in these days full of the peace of Christmas and she will show us how to conduct ourselves like children of God, even in the most difficultcircumstances.

I thank you, my God, for the good resolutions, affections, and inspirations that you have communicated to me during this meditation. I ask your help to put them into practice. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

EW