Reflections from The Cross, Our Only Hope
“Nothing is more opposed to the maxims of the Gospel and the spirit of your vocation than fear; nothing is more capable of paralyzing the good which has been so auspiciously begun.”—Basil Moreau
“Be not afraid.” Pope John Paul II opened his pontificate with these words of Jesus Christ, and he repeated them over and over again, in and out of season, as a reminder to the Church and to the world that God’s love overcomes all our fears, freeing us to live our callings.
I know the deep truth of Christ’s invitation to abandon all fear. God has richly blessed my life and ministry as a priest in the Congregation of Holy Cross. I have even been shocked at what God has done through me when I simply have trusted in Divine Providence. I often wonder how else God seeks to use my life. I don’t know. What I do know is that if I let fear govern my life, I will limit the possibilities of what God can do through me because fear restricts us. It inhibits the transformative power of God’s love in our lives. But if I trust and take God at his word, there is no limit to the good that he can accomplish in and through even sinners like myself.
When each of us allows God’s perfect love to cast out fear from our hearts, we open ourselves to live fully our vocations in Christ. John Paul II was not afraid; members of Holy Cross shed their fears in order to serve the Church throughout the world. We, too, must remember that God is never found wanting in our need. There is nothing to fear. “Be not afraid.”
Excerpted from the April 2 reflection, by Joe Corpora, C.S.C.
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