Sunday, April 26, 2026
Jesus said to his disciples, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Have faith in God. Have faith also in me.”
—John 14:1
Father Richard Rohr reflects on the relationship between anxiety, fear, and faith:
Our time has been called the age of anxiety, and I think that’s probably a good description. We no longer know what or where our foundations are. When we’re not sure what is certain, when the world and our worldview keep being redefined every few months, we’re going to be anxious. Understandably, we want to get rid of that anxiety as quickly as we can. I know I do. Yet, to be a good leader of anything today—a good pastor, manager, parent, teacher, or even a good citizen, we have to be able to contain and patiently hold a certain degree of anxiety and fear. Greater levels of leadership require leaders who are capable of holding greater anxiety. Leaders who cannot hold anxiety will never lead us any place good or new.
That’s probably why the Bible says “Do not be afraid” almost 150 times! If we cannot calmly hold a certain degree of fear and anxiety, we will always look for somewhere to expel it. Expelling what we can’t embrace gives us an identity, but it’s a negative identity. It’s not life energy, it’s death energy.
Can we recognize how different the alternative of faith and trust is? Faith can only build on a totally positive place within, however small. God just needs an interior “Yes” to begin, a mustard-seed-sized place that is in love—not fear—that is open to grace. [1]
One could sum up the Bible, and our lives, as an interplay of fear and faith. In general, people are obsessed and overpowered by fears; they fear what they cannot control. God is one of our primary fears, because God is totally beyond us and totally beyond our control. The good news is that God has breached that fear and become one of us in Jesus. Through Jesus, God says, in effect, “You can stop being afraid. It’s okay. You don’t have to live in chattering fear of me.”
The opening chapter of Luke’s Gospel presents Mary as the archetypal Christian because God comes into her life and proclaims the divine presence within her, immediately telling her through the angel, “Do not be afraid” (Luke 1:30). Through the same divine Spirit, God comes into our lives and announces the divine presence within each of us. All we are asked to do is be present and open. Only after God calls Mary beyond her fear does God give the message of her calling.
Fear can keep us from hearing what is really being said. Mary’s spirituality is focused on trusting. She said, “Let what you have said be done to me” (Luke 1:38). She doesn’t try to explain or understand. She just says, “I trust you, God. Do with me what you will. Let it be.”
Calming Our Fears
Monday, April 27, 2026
Father Richard responds to the question, “Why was Jesus not afraid?”:
Jesus seemed to know from an early age that we cannot build on fear. We can build only on life; only life leads to life. Jesus went to the deepest source of life. He gazed long and hard into God’s eyes; there, somehow, but most assuredly, he overcame fear. He did not find assurance that he would “win,” because humanly speaking, he didn’t. And I don’t believe that he found assurance that he was right, either, although we tend to think he knew it all.
His only assurance was knowing he spoke only what he had first heard (see John 8:28). He handed over the vision that he had seen in God’s eyes: a love that overcomes fear, and offers a terrible, wonderful courage, allowing us to release our life, to let it fall and go where it might. Jesus’s trust was not in himself but in who he knew he was before God.
When Jesus preaches, he tells others what he first heard: “Do not be afraid.” He learned that well from his own tradition. Those words were communicated again and again, through God, other people, and in prayer: To Abraham and Sarah, God said, “Do not be afraid.” To Moses, “Do not be afraid.” To Joshua and Gideon, “Do not be afraid.” To Samuel and Hannah, “Do not be afraid.” To Judith, “Do not afraid.” To David, in the prayers of his heart, “Do not be afraid.”
To the people of Israel, throughout the prophets again and again, and in every type of cataclysmic situation: “Do not be afraid.” Through Isaiah, “Do not be afraid.” To Joseph, the father of Jesus and husband of Mary, “Do not be afraid.” And, of course, to Mary who said yes, the angel said, “Do not be afraid, Mary.”
Why this word over and over again? Because we’re afraid! We’re wrapped and sometimes even trapped in our fear. We want to go beyond it and yet somehow it controls us. We fear what we do not know and do not understand. We fear that what we are afraid of will control us, while we long to control our own lives.
Deep down, we long for freedom, but if we want to be free from fear, we must be willing to gaze into God’s eyes as Jesus did. We must be willing to ask the same questions Jesus was asking. It’s not important that we get answers. I don’t think Jesus got that many answers, but we need to be asking the right questions: What is it that we desire? What is it that we’re trying to protect? What is it that we’re afraid is going to overtake us and control us?
We can’t attack fear head on. We can’t simply say to ourselves, “Don’t be afraid” because it doesn’t work. It isn’t that simple. We have to go deeper, be curious about where the fear is coming from, and trust God with it.
Individual Reflection
Where do you most need to hear “Do not be afraid” today?
Group Discussion — choose one:
- What is your fear trying to protect, and what would it mean to bring it into God’s gaze rather than expel it onto someone or something else?
- Mary’s response was “let it be done to me.” Where in your life are you being invited to that posture right now?
- Rohr says we cannot attack fear head-on — we have to go deeper and get curious about where it’s coming from. What might “going deeper” look like for you this week?
