FEAR, AN ENEMY AND FRIEND!

Saturday, July 09, 2011 

Saturday Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary 

by Lorenz S. Centino, Jr.

Matthew 10: 24 - 33

24  "A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master; 

25  it is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Be-el'zebul, how much more will they malign those of his household. 

26  "So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 

27  What I tell you in the dark, utter in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim upon the housetops. 

28  And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 

29  Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father's will. 

30  But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. 

31  Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.  

32  So every one who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; 

33  but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.

PERSONAL REFLECTIONS:

A BLESSED SATURDAY TO ALL!

FEAR is something that we are very familiar with. At some point in our lives we were afraid about something. The Blessed Virgin Mary, whose memorial we celebrate today in our Church calendar, was afraid when the angel Gabriel appeared to her for the annunciation for her to become the mother of Jesus. The disciples were afraid when their boat was tossed by the big waves while Jesus was sound asleep. Most students are afraid to participate in every recitation. I would like to suppose that Jesus could have felt fear when he was about to face his “finals days” in Jerusalem that when he prayed in the garden of Gethsemane he was so anxious and prayed that the Father will let the cup of suffering pass him by. Fear is a very common experience we have in our lives. There are many reasons to our fears. Many have considered fear to be our WORST ENEMY. It can do a lot of damage to us, physically, mentally, psychologically, spiritually, etc. Fear is always associated with the awareness, may it be anticipated or actual, of some THREAT or DANGER. Dr. Philip Holder, PhD considers fear to be caused by an anticipation of a LOSS.

The most dreaded loss that most people are afraid of is the LOSS of one’s LIFE. And so Jesus challenged his disciples, “do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” In this challenge Jesus would seem to be transforming fear into a positive force in his disciples. Fear can alarm us of something that we need to be concerned, prepared or ready about. Fear can then makes us become RESPONSIBLE and ACT accordingly. And so Jesus is then warning his disciples not to be afraid to those that can only destroy or kill their bodies, but rather be afraid to what can destroy both body and soul. Jesus is making his disciple to be prepared to face whatever adversity that may come in the performance of their task of proclaiming the dawning of the Kingdom of God. Jesus is forewarning his disciples that they too will walk on the same path of animosity that their Master, Jesus himself, has been walking on all along his missionary journeys. Jesus shows then that FEAR can also be our GOOD FRIEND. Fear can transform us to become full of courage and zeal in facing what would make others remain to tremble in fear.

The mandate to all the disciple of Christ is to PROCLAIM the Goodnews of salvation and be a WITNESS of Jesus before men, testifying in the light what the master declared unto them in the dark and proclaim in the housetops what the master has whispered unto their ears. A true disciple is one who stands by the master at all cost. If a disciple then is to be afraid, he/she must only have FEAR of the LORD. For when the Lord denies him/her before the Father, it is not only his/her body can be destroyed but also his/her soul. If we have to be afraid then, let us have fear of the Lord who has the power to send us to hell. Let our FAITH then transforms all our fears into FEAR of the LORD so that we will not be afraid of whatever loss we may have, except the fear of losing one’s soul by going to hell.