Saint Ignatius of Loyola points out the that most constant work of the “Enemy” of the human person is to arouse fear of . . . something.   Medical conditions such as anxiety and panic attacks, that literally threaten the life of the persons suffering from them, are significantly on the rise.  The reality of climate change and its possible effects on the world, fear of shootings in our country, fear of war or fear of the neighboring country, fear of illness, fear of abandonment, fear of failure.

FEAR

That which leaves us sick to our stomachs, unable to breathe, bound up in nervous responses, and cowering in a physical or emotional hiding place. That primary work of the evil spirit which enslaves us to self-destructive behavior and attitudes.

Of what are each one of us afraid?  Ultimately, we may be afraid of death, but when I asked college students a few years ago they said their greatest fear was of rejection or brutality.  Today’s Scripture invites us to prayerfully explore our fear and to recognize that chronic fear of any kind is a waste of time, energy and life itself. We do not have to live in fear.

In the first reading St. Paul counsels the community in Rome (and therefore us as well) that they are children of the Creator God and have been rescued from slavery to fear of all kinds.  We are the recipients of the freedom of God and NOTHING can happen to us that God will not help us handle.  If we believe in a good and merciful God who really is in charge of the Kingdom, then whatever befalls us will bring us closer to God and the fullness of God’s Kingdom here on earth and in heaven.  Through God’s love, furthermore, we are able to overcome the threats that cause fear for ourselves and others.  We do not have to be slaves to chronic fear – in fact to be so is to reject God.

The Gospel tells the story of Jesus being confident enough of God’s loving presence in his life that he recognizes that God has made him capable of relieving the fear of all who will listen to Him and choose His way of living his human condition.  He knows as a human person, that God wants Him to liberate all of us from the slavery that binds us in the chains of fear.  He speaks to a woman in the synagogue on the Sabbath to stand up straight – free from the chains of illness and fear that have kept her bent over for nearly two decades.  She hears Him (the root of obedience) and is free to enjoy the goodness of her own body.

But the religious leaders are afraid of such freedom and chide Jesus for breaking a rule by which they are willfully enslaved. They reject God’s message to the Jews (and to us their descendants) that the Sabbath is ultimately a celebration of freedom to be made whole and to help others become whole.  If we are all whole then religious leaders don’t control us with the law, they serve us by helping us understand that the law is all about being genuinely free to love and thrive.

The month of November each year is a time when the Church challenges us to face the reality of death as passage into the fullness of life.  On these last couple of October days we are invited to stop and consider deeply what fear of death or of life does to us.  By the waters of Baptism, we have the power of God to live fully as God intends us to.  By your baptism you were freed from the slavery induced by fear.  Ask God to stir up the Spirit of Adoption so that you too can cry “Abba” to our beloved Creator God.