Do Not Fear What They Fear
Jan 5, 2022
Fr. John Riccardo
“Do Not Fear What They Fear”
One of the graces of a new year is the opportunity to make some resolutions for the time ahead. It’s rather amazing how impactful simply turning a calendar page, or writing a new year on a check, or atop a journal entry, can be for many of us. A new year equals a fresh start, a chance to get serious about some aspect of our lives we have been putting off for some time.
As I approached 2022, I found myself asking the Lord in prayer what He wanted for me in this new year, rather than simply thinking about what I wanted to do. Some of what He shared with me I’ll keep for myself, as it’s a little humbling, but something He shared I’ll pass along.
The headlines and news stories for most of the past two years have engendered in so many people an extraordinary increase in anxiety, stress, anger, loneliness, and downright fear. These things seem to be as prevalent inside the Church as they are outside.
However, the world, the Church, my loved ones, my own life and the future are not in the hands of a virus, or government, or even health care workers, as wondrously helpful as they can be; they are all firmly in the hands of the God who is Love. We either know this or we don’t. And we know it by faith. Contrary to what is often said, faith is not blind; it’s a way of knowing, a way of seeing, a light the Holy Spirit gives to the intellect. Faith is God’s gracious work in me to which I am invited to respond by entrusting myself to Him.
With all of this in mind, the Lord has placed on my mind the Scriptures below for this new year. As He’s done so, He’s challenged me to make sure I spend more time in His Word than in the headlines, important as they can be and are.
“For the Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread” (Is 8:11-13).
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:4-7).
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (Mt 6:25-34).
“For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ (Rom 8:15).
Of all of these, the single line that repeatedly jumps out at me is in Isaiah: “Do not fear what they fear.” Who are the “they?” Ultimately, they are those who do not know God is their Father, or that Jesus has come to rescue us from powers we cannot compete against; those who through fear of death are held bound in various forms of slavery (cf. Heb 2:14). What do “they fear?” Darn near everything. The disciple of Jesus, on the other hand, Paul reminds us, has been given the Spirit of God - the Spirit who enables me to know the Father, to know what Jesus has accomplished for us by His death and resurrection, and who gives us the grace to live in a quiet trust that is not dependent on circumstances.
