22 June 2008
Homilies | 29 June 2008 | 15 June 2008
12th Sunday of Ordinary Time (June 22, 2008)
22/06/08 12:05
12th Sunday of Ordinary Time
June 22, 2008

Defeating Fear

Today, we’re going to talk about a very practical topic: Defeating Fear. In our gospel today, Jesus tells us, three times, “Do not be afraid.” First, he says, Don’t be afraid of those who threaten you… Then he says, Don't be afraid of those who want to kill you. They can only kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Finally, he says, Don't be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows. (Matthew 10:26-31, NLT)

All of us have fears. Last week, I came across a story of a little boy who ran to his mom and dad at night, full of fear in the midst of a thunder storm. His mom told him, “Honey, go back to bed and everything will be all right, because God is with you.” The little boy had a better idea. “Mom,” he said, “I’ll stay here and sleep with dad, and you go and sleep with God.”

A joke is told about a pastor who was afraid of flying. He was on a plane, knuckles clenched tight, teeth chattering. The stewardess said to him, “Pastor, I thought with God on your side, you wouldn’t be so afraid.” The pastor replied, “The Bible says, ‘Lo, I am with you always,” but not ‘high, I am with you always!’ ”

Ours is a culture of fear. Watch the following movie clip from Michael Moore’s film, “Bowling for Colombine.” [Clip shows fear] Especially since 9/11, we as a country have been bombarded by messages of terror and fear – on the television news who use fear to bolster ratings, and by politicians wanting to exploit fear for their own agendas. But fear is all around us!

Priests can feel fear. A few years ago, I was taking my walk in Palm Desert, exercising, when this ferocious dog came out of a house and cornered me in a cul-de-sac. For about 15 or 20 minutes, I was trapped, and couldn’t get around this barking, snarling dog, until finally a neighbor came out and rescued me. But I was afraid.

Many years ago, when I lived in South Bend, I was living in a rectory in the inner city. It was Thanksgiving, but I was sick, so instead of going out to dinner, I stayed home in bed. It was twilight, I was resting upstairs in my bedroom, when I heard noises downstairs. I peaked out the bedroom window and saw shadows downstairs of someone coming in and out of the first floor of my house, carrying things in their arms. Panicked, I thought, “It’s Thanksgiving. They think everyone is out of the house. We’re being robbed.” I crawled to the phone, called 911, the police came quickly – and they immediately arrested… Sister Claire Alfred, who worked at the church and had decided to come by on Thanksgiving to clean a few things from the first floor of the house!

We all fear. Medical dictionaries list more than 600 phobias, or fears. There’s even “phobiaphobia” – fear of fear itself. And there is “homilyphobia” – fear of homilies, fear of sermons. I used to be afraid of public speaking. In college, the only class I almost flunked was speech. The professor told me, “Please, please, never, ever choose a career that involves public speaking.” Right!

What are some of your fears? This short video shows some common fears… [show video clip]. Fear of death, or sickness, or pain. That’s a common fear. Last week, I read about a class of junior high students who were asked by their teacher to write on the subject of death, and one teen wrote, “I want to die in my sleep, like my grandfather did. I’d hate to die screaming in panic like the passengers in his car did.” And there are many other fears – fear of unemployment, losing our job, not being able to pay the bills; fears about our children; fear of being rejected; fear of being lonely or alone in life.

People respond to fear in three ways. Some people suppress it. They run away, hide, pretend it’s not there. They put on masks of denial. Machismo is a mask to hide fear – “Look, I’m tough!” Smiley faces are masks – “Look, I’m always happy.” Right! In a Peanuts cartoon, Charlie Brown once said, “There’s no problem so big that I can’t run away from it!” But running away from our fears and problems is not a good solution. So other people respond to fear by resorting to destructive behavior, on themselves or on others. Addictions, anger, resentment, bitterness, or anxiety or stress or excessive worry. This, too, is not a healthy way to respond to fear. The third option is the best: Trust God. [Show humorous Blue Fish video on faith vs. fear, in the form of a MacIntosh vs. Windows commercial]

God wants us to live in freedom, not in fear, in light, not in darkness. A few months ago, a friend sent me this photo by e-mail, but it got me thinking: God wants His light to shine in me and through me, but fear blocks out the light. Jesus tells us: You are like light for the whole world… Your light must shine before people. (Matthew 5:14, 16, TEV) Jesus says, in our gospel today: What I tell you now in the darkness, shout abroad when daybreak comes. (Matthew 10:27, NLT)

Why live in fear? It’s wasted energy. Fear doesn’t change anything at all. It only makes things worse. Back in the 1930s, at the height of the Great Depression, when the economy of the U.S. was in shambles and everyone was full of fear, the newly elected President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, said these famous words at his first inaugural speech in 1933: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” We live today in a time of economic hardship – soaring gas prices, people losing jobs and homes – and maybe we, too, need to hear these words again. Mark Twain once said: “I have known many troubles in life, most of which never happened.” We waste energy worrying about what might be. Usually, “what might be” never happens! But even if it does, one of my favorite sayings is this: “If God gives you lemons, make lemonade.” (Unknown) So much depends on our attitude. We can look at a glass of water and say, “It’s half empty” – the cry of the pessimist – or we can look at that same glass of water and say, “It’s half full” – the cry of the optimist. It’s our choice to let fear rule or not! Lou Holtz, the famous coach of the Notre Dame football team, was once pelted by oranges after playing in the Orange Bowl. He said, “It could be worse. We could be playing in the Gator Bowl!” The Bible itself tells us, 366 times – once for every day of the year, plus one additional time for good measure – “Do not be afraid!” Today, our gospel tells us that three times!

You and I, we only have one life to live. How are we going to choose to live it? In light or in darkness? In freedom or in fear? The Bible tells us: If you are filled with light, with no dark corners, then your whole life will be radiant, as though a floodlight is shining on you. (Luke 11:36, NLT). Jesus told the people: “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won't be stumbling through the darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.” (John 8:12, NLT)

There is an illness that plagues many of us, a spiritual sickness, and I call it the scourge of timidity. We’re afraid to confront, to speak out, to take a stand. Did you know that silence and inaction are just as much choices as speaking out and getting involved? Many parents today are afraid to speak out and confront their children, even when the kids are over 18, still living at home, but doing all sorts of things that go against the beliefs and values of the parents. Lots of people live in dysfunctional households, where there is alcoholism, or verbal or physical abuse – but we are cowered and afraid to name and confront the problem. Silence, inaction, timidity can be wrong! But you see, fear enslaves us.

It’s OK to say “No,” and it’s also OK to say “yes” – but mean it. Jesus says to us in the Bible: Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ (Matthew 5:37, NAB) Our gospel today says it emphatically: Don’t be afraid of those who threaten you… What I tell you now in the darkness, shout abroad when daybreak comes. What I whisper in your ears, shout from the housetops for all to hear! Don't be afraid of those who want to kill you. They can only kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:26-29, NLT)

Now, there is a right way and a wrong way to speak out. Jesus isn’t telling us to go out and club people over the head with our words. We always, always, always must speak out in love, kindness, compassion, gentleness. But don’t be afraid to speak out in love, kindness, compassion and gentleness – because, ultimately, we don’t need to impress other people, we simply must please God. We only have to live to please an audience of one – God – and not all the other people and the critics who are all around us.

The second danger of timidity is that it creates what I call a “Company of Yes Men and Yes Women” – followers, not leaders, people who just go along with the crowd. This can affect the church, too – leaders, priests and bishops, too, who tow the line, don’t want to rock the boat, are political climbers, or who just aren’t prophetic. I think that’s what happened at Abu Ghraib in Iraq – a bunch of young, inexperienced soldiers blindly following orders. Last week, I read a story of a young medical student, just graduating to become a doctor. As he was driving home one evening, he came upon a car wreck. Stopping, he discovered a man in the car who was about to die without medical attention. But to attend the man, he had to move him – which always involves a risk of causing paralysis. The young medical student knew that if he did nothing, the man would die; but if he moved the man to save his life, but it resulted in paralysis, he’d face a medical malpractice lawsuit that would destroy his future and his career. He ended up helping the man, saving his life – and, fortunately, there was no paralysis and no lawsuit. But the next week, he told his supervisor about the experience, who told him: “That was the dumbest thing you ever did. You put your entire future and career as a doctor on the line. Next time, just keep driving.” The medical student later wrote, “Next time, I’ll take his advice and just keep going.”

What are some of the issues in the church? Do we speak out or stay silent? And what do we say? After all, not everyone agrees on all these issues. Let’s take a few examples:

♣ Immigration reform. That’s an easy one to talk about here in Coachella, or in Mecca or Indio, where nearly everyone is an immigrant or has a family member who is an immigrant. But they might throw tomatoes at the priest who preaches on this issue in La Quinta or Indian Wells or Rancho Mirage. I bet churches there don’t talk about immigration as much as we do here.
♣ What about abortion? For most Catholics, that’s an easier issue, I think, because we sort of intrinsically agree on the sanctity of life. But society definitely does not agree with us. We are in the minority. And then, there is a big problem, politically, because while we oppose abortion, we also oppose anything that diminishes the sanctity of life, including, for example, capital punishment or the use of torture or human rights abuses or whether the Iraq war is just or not – and lots of churches steer away from those “hot potato” controversial political issues. In a sense, abortion is a lot safer to preach about!
♣ Biblical literalism. In seminary, priests and theology students learn that the Bible is filled with metaphor, symbol, myth – it’s not all historical. So, for example, did God literally create the world in seven days, or is the scientific theory of evolution compatible with our faith? Fundamentalist Christians battle about this all the time, and try to have “creationism” taught in the schools, alongside evolution. But even in Catholic circles, do we dare teach about this aspect of the Bible, or do we stay silent so as not to rock the boat, spiritually, or offend the spiritual sensibilities of some of our church members?
♣ Women’s rights and women’s ordination. Issues not discussed very much. But I’m amazed that women only received the right to vote when my own mother was a little girl, not that long ago. It’s interesting that only now has a woman risen high enough, politically, to almost win her party’s nomination for president. What is the role of women in the church?
♣ Racism, bigotry, discrimination. Today, not many people argue over this, but 50 years ago, that wasn’t so. I grew up in the South. When I was a little kid – I don’t remember it – there were “colored” bathrooms and “colored” restaurants and blacks had to sit in the back of public buses. I’ve asked my parents, “When you were young, why didn’t you challenge those things?” and they respond, “We didn’t know any better, we just didn’t think about it, it was the way things were and we just went along with what everyone else said and did.” In those days, there were black churches and white churches – even among Catholics! When I lived in Phoenix, next door to the church was the former “Mexican” school from the 1940s, which was separate from the “white” school. But when we just go along and are “company men and women” – isn’t that how Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party were able to seize power in Germany, good people afraid to say or do anything? I really believe most of us are trying to be good, honest, decent people – but if fear takes over, even good people do and say nothing in the face of wrong and evil.
♣ Did you know that California was the first state, back in 1948, to legalize interracial marriage? The California State Supreme Court ordered the change. The federal government didn’t catch on until a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1967. Today, nobody blinks an eye over the issue of interracial marriage, but they did back then. I raise that because, last week, what story dominated the news? Right – same-sex marriage. Our tendency is to stay silent, to shy away from controversy, to ignore the elephant in the room, to not rock the boat. I don’t know how history will look at this decision by the California Supreme Court – maybe like interracial marriage, or maybe an abomination to the sanctity of marriage. The Catholic Church clearly is against same-sex marriage, but favors civil protections of gay couples in civil unions, and also, the church defends the fair and just treatment of all people, regardless of race, culture, ethnic background, gender or sexual orientation. But some other non-Catholic churches allow same-sex marriages and clearly disagree with our Catholic Church on this issue; and others are marching in the streets against it, but with hatred and anger that also goes against what we as Catholics teach and believe.
♣ My point is this: People are always going to disagree over all these issues, but that doesn’t mean we can stay silent, not speak, and let fear keep us on a leash. We need to speak our truth, as best we see it by following our informed consciences – but out in love, and with compassion, respect and tolerance, not in anger or with hatred or bitterness. Sometimes we need to learn to agree to disagree. All of us are brothers and sisters, even when we have different opinions and viewpoints. And maybe we need to speak out with more humility – recognizing that we all are human, we all make mistakes, none of us is God.

So, finally, let’s look at four steps to help us overcome fear:

Step One: Know that you are loved by God. Our gospel today tells us: You are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows. (Matthew 10:31, NLT) Love transforms everything and can conquer all fear. We don’t need to live to please anyone else or be popular with anyone else, or change to meet someone else’s expectations of us. God loves us just as we are. We live for an audience of one – to please the Lord.

On the screen are two quotes. They say the same thing, in just slightly different ways: “Courage is fear that has been conquered by love.” “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather, the judgment that something else is more important than fear.” (Ambrose Redmoon) We all have fears. Fear is part of our humanity – but it can be overcome by courage, based in love. A mother fears busy traffic, but nonetheless will risk traffic and overcome fear, out of love, if she sees her child dart out into that traffic. We are loved – and this love gives us courage to overcome our fears.

Second Step: Expose your fears. Name them. Write them down. There’s even a space on your Homily Notes to write them down. Even better, share them – not with just anyone, of course, but with a trusted confidant or spiritual director or friend. Naming our fears helps us to overcome them.

Third Step: Turn your fears over to God. Pray to God, specifically, about your fears, and ask God to take them onto Himself. Use the Bible as a source of strength. On your handout on some Bible verses to help you with this, so take these verses home with you and re-read them and meditate on them and allow them to give you strength.

♣ You, Lord, are on my side, strong and mighty… (Jeremiah 20:11, TEV)
♣ I cried out to the Lord in my suffering, and he heard me. He set me free from all my fears. (Psalm 34:6, NLT)
♣ God has said, “I will never leave you; I will never abandon you.” Let us be bold, then, and say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?” (Hebrews 13:5-6, TEV)
♣ In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world. (John 16:33, NAB)
♣ Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or are hungry or cold or in danger or threatened with death? ... No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can't, and life can't. The angels can't, and the demons can't. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can't keep God's love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35, 37-39, NLT)

Refocusing helps us overcome fear. If we focus on our worries and problems, they overwhelm us. But if we pray, focus on God and on God’s word, get involved more in the works of God – that takes our mind off the things that cause us fear.

Why don’t people get more involved in ministry and in the church? I think it’s not primarily laziness, and not even busyness. It’s fear – what if I fail? What if I don’t know how? What if I’m rejected? Fear enslaves.

Step 4 is essential: Step out in faith. Jump in the water. It won’t hurt. Take a risk. Get involved, however God may want you to do that – by speaking, in love; by forgiving someone; by loving and caring more; by serving and volunteering; by doing. Christianity is an action faith, not a spectator sport. Faith without works is dead.

Fear can be defeated, when we trust in God. God loves you and wants to free you from fear. God wants to help you to live in light, not darkness. Will you accept his invitation of life and light and freedom from fear? Just four simple steps: Know that you are loved; expose the fears; trust in God; and take a step of faith by becoming a doer, not just a sitter.

Let us pray…