FEAR IS A  PIANO 

[This is a reflection for Monday after Easter - coming out of one sentence in today's gospel,
Matthew 28: 8-15 - the sentence being, "Do not be afraid."]

We walk into someone’s house and there is a black piano.

Most of the time it’s a stand up piano - against a wall.

Most of the time it’s closed - but not always. When open, we see the black and white keys.

Some homes - have a baby grand or an adult grand piano.

But as I have heard reported on TV - people are buying pianos less and less. Sales are down.

Some people have key boards. They take a lot less space.

And sometimes people walk up to a piano and hit a key or two and the sound resounds through the air - through the house.

And sometimes we’re walking down the street and we hear a piano  - like when I take a walk from St. Mary’s - out the door - up the street - down Green Street - walking through Ego Alley - heading for the Naval Academy - and I hear a piano playing in a house on Green Street - just across from the public school.

Piano sounds trigger thoughts…. Piano sounds triggers memories….

Pianos do that. Fears do that.

Pianos hit notes. Pianos hits memories. Lessons. Songs.  And the sounds resound through our souls.

Pianos….

Fear is a piano.

Phobias - the Greek word for fear - abound  - resound - rebound in our inner being and our inner attic or basement.

A piano has many keys - and each has a distinctive note.

Phobias have different keys. Each have distinctive notes. There are fears of elevators and  fears of escalators - fear of planes and fear of submarines - fear of bridges - fear of cracks in the sidewalks.

I have a classmate who can’t eat chicken - because as a kid he was visiting a relative on a farm and the farmer cut a chicken’s head off - and the chicken ran across the yard without a head on.

Ooooh.

Fears can get us to run around without our head on.

And many fears evoke the “Oooh!” or “Eeeck!” sound. They can be like a sound from a plunked piano key going down and sending a high note rising up and going through a room.

The little child fears the dark - so too the tourist who won’t go into the cave - in which the whole group of tourists goes into - but this person says, “I’ll see you when you come out.”

Fears cripple, paralyze, scare - and get people to call for a priest - or say to another, “Hold my hand.”

In today’s gospel Jesus says, “Do not be afraid!”

“Fear not!” - “Don’t be afraid!”  - those words - that message appear over 450 times in the scriptures.

Easter is a time of hope. Remember that T-shirt message from a few years back, “Fear not!”  - well it’s the Easter Message -

How not to fear:  realize the Risen Lord walks with us. Amen.

Fear is a piano - it has many notes.

Jesus is the music - the Alleluia to hear and to play and pray when fears abound and sound warnings at the entrance of our cave. Amen.

Pianoaphobia - Fearaphobia - Pantophobia are around.

How to learn to play the piano?  “Practice. Practice. Practice.” “Take lessons from a teacher - from a Rabbi.”

How to deal with fears? “Practice. Practice. Practice.” “Take lessons from a teacher - a Rabbi - named Jesus.”