“Fear no one.”
Fear is perhaps the greatest weapon the Enemy has against us. Too often we allow fear to motivate us, to influence us, to steer us: we so easily let fear call the shots in our lives. We are afraid of suffering, of challenges, of offending others, of vulnerability: we are often afraid of the very things that are required of us as Christians, yet we need not be.
“Do not be afraid.” God says multiple times throughout the Scriptures: how different would our lives in Christ be?
“If God is for us,” St. Paul writes, “who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31b). We know by the parables of Jesus in Luke 15—the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Prodigal Son—that God is intensely aware of each one of us—in today’s Gospel we know that even a sparrow has the Lord’s notice, that even the hairs on our heads are counted.
“So do not be afraid,” Jesus tells us. “you are worth more than many sparrows.” Should you need evidence of this, look at the nearest crucifix: He believes you are worth dying for.