DON’T  BE  AFRAID!

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this feast of the Immaculate Conception  is, “Don’t Be Afraid.”

At this Mass we’re celebrating Mary - the Mother of Jesus - the New Eve.

TODAY’S FIRST READING

In today’s first reading from Genesis 3: 9-15, 20, Adam says “I was afraid.”

God is looking for Adam  in the garden, where he is hiding from God. God says, “Where are you?” And Adam says, “I heard you in the garden, but I was afraid, because I was naked.”

And God says, “Who told you that you were naked? You have eaten the forbidden fruit.”

Then he blames Eve and they blame the snake.

We have here a profound story. It gets at the heart of who we are.

We want to walk with God. We want to be with God.  We want the world to be a beautiful garden. But we mess up. We eat the forbidden fruit.  That’s the naked truth.

And so we are afraid.

The word “afraid” appears 103 times in the English translation of our Bible. The word “fear” appears 454 times.

“Waira” is the root Hebrew word for “fear” or “afraid”.  Phobos” is the word for “fear”  in Greek. “Fear” and “afraid” are the key words in English.

And we hear 454 million times in our lives: “Don’t be afraid.”  We say that to ourselves and to others.

The naked truth is we are afraid.

We are afraid of God, ourselves, and others.

We’re afraid of failure, being seen, making mistakes, sinning, striking out, being rejected, failing.

TODAYS GOSPEL

In today’s gospel - an angel comes to Mary - it’s another basic human story - and says, “Hail full of grace! The Lord is with you.”

And she is greatly troubled. She ponders with an “Uh Oh!’ - the two sounds we say all our lives when we see a request coming, “Uh oh!”

And the angel asks her to bring Christ to our world.

The angel begins by saying, “Don’t be afraid.”

And she says that she can’t do it.  She’s not married. She has had no relations with a man.

And the angel says, “The Holy Spirit will come to you, and the power of the most high will overshadow you, and you will bring the Holy One to this world.

CONCLUSION:   US

These two stories are our story.

We want to be with God - we want to walk with God - but like Adam and Eve and unlike Mary - we sneak like snakes and take the forbidden fruit.

Yet God still calls us to be his mother and bring the most high to our world.

And we’re afraid.

Yet God still calls us each day.   God still sends angels to us each day and says, “the Lord is with you” - And “Don’t be afraid.”

Hopefully we all say what Mary said, “Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to your word.”