People are afraid of all sorts of things. There are lists and lists of different phobias.
A friend of mine is afraid of frogs. That’s a form of zoophobia – the fear of animals, which can be broken down further to batchophobia – the fear of amphibians, all the way down to ranidaphobia – the fear of frogs.
There are more commonly known fears, like arachnophobia – which is a fear of spiders, triskaidekaphobia – which is the fear of the number 13 (thirteen). And there are lesser known phobias like entomophobia – which is the fear of bugs, or scoleciphobia – which is the fear of worms. There is chiroptophobia – which is the fear of bats, and selachophobia – which is the fear of sharks.
Xanthophobia is the fear of the color yellow, spectophobia is the fear of mirrors, coulrophobia is the fear of clowns, and kleptophobia is the fear of being robbed.
Ecclesiophobia is the fear of churches, ouranophobia is the fear of heaven, and theophobia is the fear of God,
There’s even barophobia – which is the fear of gravity, autophobia – the fear of being alone, and panphobia – the fear of everything.
It seems that people can be afraid of just about anything – person, place, thing, feeling, temperature, sounds, ideas, activities … if you can experience it, you can be afraid of it.
Today is the Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary time.
In the first reading from the prophet Isaiah, we hear a prophecy of three miracles done by the hand of God. God restores the land, He heals physical ailments and disabilities, and He relieves fear.
The prophet says first, at the beginning of today’s text:to those whose hearts are frightened:Be strong, fear not!Here is your God, he comes with vindication;with divine recompense he comes to save you.
And only after this, does he continue, saying: “[then] will the eyes of the blind be opened” as he enumerates the cures and the other miracles that God will perform.
But first – before any miraculous healings or restorations – God addresses fear. Miracles second. Fear gets dealt with first.
And I believe this is a very important point. Because just like there are fears for anything and everything under the sun, fear in a person’s life touches and affects everything in their life.
God first comes, not to heal us – but to save us. And He saves us from fear. Before we can move on to miracles and healings, we need to do something about fear.
Fear takes away your freedom. Fear drags you out of the present moment – leaving you ruminating in the past or worried about the future. Fear destroys your quality of life. Fear clouds your judgment. It upsets your emotions. Fear has some very serious consequences – in relationships, in the workplace, in daily activities, on physical and mental health.
There are all sorts of programs to get people to conquer fear by confronting their phobias.
But perhaps, as Christians, we need to address our fears by first recognizing that it is God who can conquer our fears … God can destroy our phobias and vindicate us … It is God who saves us. But we need to give Him permission to act in our lives with His power … the power of His grace and His mercy … to right the wrongs of the past, and to take away the worries of the future.
And when we have “let go” … and “let God,” only then we can address the other things – our own limitations and the world around us … with the freedom we have received in Christ as the children of God.
Once we have given our fears over to God, and are free from them … then our eyes and our ears will be opened … to God’s action and miracles in our lives. Our tongues will be loosened to praise God and to speak words of encouragement … to proclaim the truth of the Gospel. Then we will recognize in all people our brothers and sisters in Christ.
And it all starts … or stops with fear.
As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ … may the light of Christ poured out in the Holy Spirit enlighten us … that when Jesus tells us to “be opened” to His grace and His mercy … to receive the divine gifts of Faith, Hope, and Love … that we will let Him into our lives … our hearts … our souls … and allow God to save us … to heal us, and to restore us so that we might “be rich in faith and [inherit] the kingdom that [God has] promised to those who love him.”
