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Saint Paul
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Conquering fear

Bishop Andrew Cozzens

I believe that one of the reasons the COVID-19 pandemic has been so traumatic for our society is that we live in a culture that is gripped with a fear of death. It does make sense to fear death, because death appears to be the worst enemy of human life. The Bible makes clear that death was not part of God’s plan for human beings. Death came into the world as a result of sin. When someone dies, it feels wrong because it is wrong.

We have eternal souls. The bonds of friendship and affection we form with each other in this life are meant to last forever. In this way, death is against our nature, and it is natural to fear it. In fact, in all the centuries of human existence, despite applying all our best human ingenuity, there are two problems we have been unable to fix: sin and death. These are precisely the problems Jesus Christ came to save us from.

Bishop Andrew CozzensThe Paschal Triduum of Easter, which we celebrate in the coming days, has something to say to this fear of death. Jesus Christ conquered death by conquering sin. When we repent from our sins and are incorporated into Christ through baptism, St. Paul says we are “baptized into his death” (Rom 6:3). This means that the effects of his death and resurrection, freedom from sin and resurrected life, are shared with us. Because of this, death has lost its power over us. We, too, can declare as St. Paul did to the Corinthians, “Death is swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Cor 15:54-55).

This truth is meant to change everything for us as Christians. It means we no longer live in fear of death, but are free to give our lives completely to God. This doesn’t lead to carelessness with the gift of life — quite the opposite. It fills life with deep meaning and gives us the courage to be able to face evil and still respond to God’s call in our lives. This courage filled the saints and allowed them to risk their own lives for others.

I love the example of St. Damien of Molokai, sometimes called the “Leper Priest.” St. Damien volunteered to be the priest for the leper colony on the Island of Molokai, knowing that he would never be able to come back. He would die there with the lepers. When asked how he had the courage to do this he said, “It is the memory of having lain under the funeral pall twenty-five years ago — the day of my vows — that led me to brave the danger of contracting this terrible disease in doing my duty here and trying to die more and more to myself … the more the disease advances, I find myself content and happy.”

St. Damien’s religious community had the tradition (still practiced today by many Benedictines and others) that when the priest took his vows, as he lay on the floor during the litany of saints, they would cover him with a funeral pall as a symbol of death to the world. St. Damien was freed from the fear of death because he had surrendered himself completely to God when he took his vows.

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The true Christian perspective is that sin is a worse evil than death. As Jesus said, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna” (Mt 10:28). This is why the martyrs gave their lives: They would rather die than deny Christ through a sin.

So how do we deal with our natural fear of death, or with any of our natural fears? I love the line by Joseph Pieper, the 20th century German philosopher who wrote so beautifully about virtue. He said, “Courage is fear which has said its prayers.” All of us have fears, the saints had fears, it seems even Jesus in his humanity trembled in fear before the cross. What is important is that fear does not prevent us from doing God’s will. The more we grow in a daily relationship with God in prayer, the more we surrender the fears of our hearts to him, the more he fills us with his love and this gives us courage to do whatever he asks, even in the face of the fear of death. As St. Paul says, “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:6-7).

One of the things I noticed in the Bible some years ago was that every time God calls someone in the Bible he says, “Do not be afraid.” Whether it is Abraham, Moses, the prophets, Mary or St. Peter, it seems that God tells people not to be afraid because he always calls us to more than we think we are capable of doing. Thus, it would be normal to be afraid. However, faith changes this.

Faith gives us the knowledge “that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:35, 38-39). The more we grow in faith, the less we are ruled by fear, even the fear of death. Then we can be courageous in making a gift of our lives in whatever way God asks.

Conquistar el miedo

 


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