Peace be with you. Friends, the readings for
today are really magnificent, and they are all about something
central to the spiritual life, namely, fear. Now, what do I mean? Well, years ago I was
on a retreat and the retreat director said, “There are two basic
questions always to ask. First, what do you want? Deep down,
what do you want? Second, what are you
afraid of deep down?” So we want all
kinds of things, but what is it that finally
and ultimately you want? That’s a really
clarifying question. Can I propose it now
to everyone listening: What are you looking for? When a young kid would come
to a Benedictine monastery —still true to this day
in a more formal way— they’d be asked, “What do you seek? What do you want here?” But the second great
clarifying question is, “What are you afraid of?” We’re afraid of all
sorts of things, but deep down, ultimately,
what are you afraid of? In a way, answering those
two questions will tell you everything you need to know about
yourself spiritually speaking. So with that in mind,
let’s look at reading number one,
which is from the great prophet
Jeremiah. Is there anybody
in the Old Testament more fascinating
than Jeremiah, who was given this kind
of awful assignment? He’s called to be a prophet,
and the message he has for Israel is this
terrible message. And the Lord tells him,
and it turns out to be true, “No one’s going
to listen to you, and they’re all going
to end up hating you.” Well, that’s exactly what
happened with Jeremiah. So listen to him now. We hear him speaking: “I hear the
whisperings of many: ‘Terror on every side!
Denounce! let us denounce him!’ All those who were my
friends are on the watch for any misstep of mine.” Well, here’s the prophet
in the midst of his fear and despair. “I was called to
deliver this message, I’ve done so,
and what’s the result? Everybody hates me. Terror on every side.
Everybody’s denouncing me.” Well, a lot of us experience
life this way, don’t we? There are times when it feels
like everything’s going wrong. All of our fears
are being realized. All of our best efforts
have met with failure. But now listen to
him as he continues: “But the Lord is with me,
like a mighty champion: my persecutors will stumble,
they will not triumph.” In the midst of his fears,
and they are profound, he experiences
a deeper peace. Yes, terror on every side, every human being
is against me. But in the midst of it,
I experience this great peace because God is my champion. Notice please, God being
his champion does not mean that the fears go away. “Oh, since God’s on my side,
I won’t have any fear. No one’s going
to denounce me. I’m going to be a
total worldly success.” No, no, no. Jeremiah was a failure
his whole life long, and he died a failure. He died with people
denouncing him on every side. Yet in the midst of it,
despite all that, he felt the peace that
comes from knowing that God is his champion. Think of Teresa of Avila’s famous
image of the interior castle. Well, the very existence of
a castle presupposes trouble. You wouldn’t build a fortified
castle unless there were enemies out to get you, unless you were surrounded
on every side by danger. But despite the dangers,
in the midst of the dangers, there’s this castle, this
place of safety and peace. That’s the place, everybody,
that the saints find. Now, with that in mind,
let’s turn to the Gospel, which is giving us
a similar dynamic. Jesus said to the twelve,
“Fear no one.” Extraordinary, huh? The Lord says,
“Fear no one.” Then he amplifies, “Do not be afraid of those
who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.” Now we see, if you want
to put it this way, the metaphysical ground
of this dynamic I’ve been talking about. Don’t fear those
paper tigers who can only
harm the body but cannot touch the soul. What’s the soul? Call it that deepest,
central part of us through which we have
contact with God. So yeah, I’m surrounded
by terrors on every side, I’ve got enemies
all around me. I’ve got failures and fears
and anxieties all around me. But at the level of my soul, I am connected to that power
which is here and now creating the universe. In my soul,
the depth of who I am, I’m in touch with that which
transcends space and time, that which lies beyond the
vagaries of this world, that which mocks all those
fears that surround me. Don’t be afraid of those
that can only harm the body but can’t touch this
deepest place in me. See, what are you afraid of? “I’m afraid of all
these enemies around me. I’m afraid of
being a failure. I’m afraid of not
realizing my dreams. I’m afraid of what they’re
all going to say and think about me.” Paper tigers. Don’t be afraid of those
who can harm the body. Indeed, listen to
what the Lord says: not just harm the body but
who can “kill the body.” So okay, I’ve
got such enemies. I have so many persecutors;
they’re going to put me to death. “Yeah, I know,”
says the Lord. “Don’t be afraid of them.” Why? Because they cannot
reach to that deepest, immortal, spiritual
dimension of yourself that we call the soul. Now, remember that
question I opened up with? What are you afraid of? So let’s say you follow
the Lord here and you say, “Okay, okay,
I’m not afraid of these paper tigers that can
only kill my body.” Listen to what he says now: “Rather, be afraid
of the one who can destroy both
soul and body in Gehenna.” Okay, now we’re getting to
really serious business. Don’t be afraid of
those on the outside. Terror on every side,
yeah I know. All they can do
is harm your body. But do indeed be afraid
of the one who can kill both body and soul. In other words,
have in you the fear of the Lord. See, because your soul,
through resistance to God, can lose the
contact with God. That’s its natural space,
of course; the soul naturally
is attuned to God. But through that sin
that we call mortal sin, a killing sin, it can
divorce itself from God. So be afraid of that one. Be afraid of the
God who can kill both body and soul. Do you see how
what’s at stake here, everybody, is a kind of
prioritizing of our fears? What’s most
fearsome to you? “Oh, oh, all these things
out in the world thatcan harm me.” That’s nothing, nothing compared to your
relationship with God. If the soul has died, through sin and
through neglect of God and through hatred of God,
if the soul has died, then you are
really in trouble. Don’t worry about
the paper tigers who can just
harm your body. Now, there’s the principle. I’m going to give you
just a couple of examples, because where
do you see this? You see this dynamic
in the saints. Think of young
Karol Wojtyla, the kid that grew up
to be St. Pope John Paul II. He experienced the
worst of the world. As a young kid,
the Nazis invaded his home country,
indeed his home city, put to death
thousands of people, killed off the
intelligentsia of Poland, forced him and his seminary
classmates underground. Auschwitz was just
a few miles from where John Paul II
was going to school. Then they were succeeded
by the Communists, who were maybe a
slight improvement, but not that much,
over the Nazis. Another oppressive regime. Here’s someone who experienced
the worst of humanity. Talk about forces that
were able to harm the body, to kill the body. Yes, indeed,
he knew all about it. But yet, when he
becomes pope, what does he say? “Be not afraid.” He’s echoing Jesus
in this Gospel, who says, “Fear nobody.” He saw the worst
of humanity. Never accuse John Paul II
of being naive about human wickedness. No, no, no. He saw it up close. But yet he knew,
he knew about this peace that abides at
the level of the soul, and that’s where
he lived. Think of that wonderful
saint from the Cristero period in Mexico, when there was such a brutal
persecution of the Church, little Jose Sanchez del Rio,
fourteen years old. I often tell his story
when I’m doing the Confirmation Masses
because the kids here are like fourteen,
fifteen, same age. Here’s Jose Sanchez del Rio
captured by the enemies of the Church and offered
every opportunity. “Hey, we’ll make you famous,
we’ll make you rich, if you just cave in.” That would’ve been a great
propaganda coup for them. But this young kid,
he wasn’t afraid of them. They tortured him. They badgered him. They tortured him
psychologically and physically. He wasn’t afraid of them. And finally, they killed him. But he wasn’t afraid of those
who can just kill the body. Rather, he had the
fear of the Lord. He was more afraid of
the one who can kill both body and soul. In other words,
he maintained his connection to God. That’s what makes
him a saint. One more example, I was just
thinking about him, because as I
record these words, we had his feast day
a little while ago. The great St. Charles Lwanga,
the great saint of Uganda, young man in the
court of the king. The king makes sexual
advances toward him, he refuses. The king tells him he
has to give up his faith, he refuses. And Charles Lwanga, all
of twenty-five years old, is burned alive in a
place called Namugongo. It’s now where a million
Catholics descend every year on his feast day
to honor him. Was he afraid of those
who could harm the body? Mm-mm. Even kill the body? Uh-uh, he wasn’t
afraid of them. He was more afraid of
the one who could kill both body and soul. In other words,
he maintained his connection to God. I love that detail
that as he died —he’s being burned alive— as he died, the only
thing people heard him say was a long sigh: “Oh God.” In other words,
he maintained his connection at the level of the soul
with God despite the worst
persecution of the world. Terror on every side. You bet. From Jeremiah to Charles
Lwanga to John Paul II. But what are you afraid of,
finally? What are you afraid of? Those that can harm
the body? Or do you have the
fear of the Lord? Do you maintain a
contact with the Lord at the level of your soul? Finally, everybody,
that’s all that matters. And God bless you.
