In the Gospel, Jesus calls for witnesses to the Gospel, but in the midst of a skeptical and sometimes hostile world, fear is one of the things that keeps Christians from a bold and generous witnessing to the faith. Three times Jesus said to the apostles, ‘Do not be afraid.’
Fortunately, there are always those in the Church who, by the grace of God, are able to overcome fear and witness to the Gospel in the most difficult and
dangerous circumstances.
Archbishop Oscar Romero is an outstanding example. When he was made Archbishop of San Salvador in 1977, he was conservative. But he soon changed when he saw what was happening. Every Sunday he preached at the cathedral. His homilies so electrified the country that national affairs halted when he spoke from the altar. He made public the
unspeakable crimes being committed, many by agents of the government.
He was under constant threat of death. Some of his best friends were murdered. And still he would not be silenced. Nor would he go into hiding or exile. ‘At the first sight of danger the shepherd cannot run and leave the sheep to fend for themselves. I will stay with my people,’ he said. He was shot dead in March 1980 while saying Mass.
According to Romero it didn’t take courage. All it took was the understanding that his enemies dealt in fear, and that if he was not afraid of them, they would have no power over him. They might be able to kill his body, but they could not and would not kill his soul.
When Jesus said to his apostles, ‘Do not be afraid,’ he wasn’t saying that they should never feel afraid. He knew that at times they would be afraid. The issue was what fear might do to them. It might paralyze them, or make them so timid as to be unable to fulfill their mission. What Jesus was doing was encouraging them so that they might be able to move beyond fear.
How were they to overcome their fear? He urged them to have complete trust in God, who lovingly watches over the life and death of even the smallest and least valuable of his creatures - the sparrows.