Couragio!

When John Paul II was first elected Pope, the first thing he said to the crowds in St Peters square was "Be not afraid".

Why? What were the people so afraid of? Having a polish man lead them?

But John Paul II had been made Pope during a tumultuous time in the life of the Church. Vatican II had created widespread confusion. Many people felt that the Church needed to change to accomodate our culture. Others saw this time as being the decline of the Church, the end of Christendom. Time Magazine had declared on it's cover "God is Dead." The Sexual Revolution had taken hold, and the people were convinced and living out of their convictions, which were founded in moral decline.

Here we are today, living in a world where Christians, hated, and persecuted all over the world. Did you know that there were more martyrs, more people who were killed for being Christian, in the last century than in all the others combined? Here in Canada we watch as our courts and our politicians time and again make decisions contrary to Christians values- what was once a Christian Country today wil not even say Merry Christmas in it's department stores!

But the Pope said "Be not afraid."

I believe that Christians are often paralyzed by fear. We know that God has called us to be Saints, we know he has called us to tell others about Him, but we are so scared about so many things.... that we don't. What if people don't like us? What if they don't respect us? What about financial concerns? Christianity is always and necessarily a risk. We need to pray for courage to face that risk!

One night, when in was in High School I was lying awake in bed, and I couldn't sleep, so I decided to go for a bike ride, and try to sleep in Fish creek Park. So I biked down there, and tried to find a place to sleep. First I tried laying on the grass... but it was too prickly, and the bugs were getting to me. Then I tried lying on a picnic table. Too Hard. I found a little shelter with benches in it. It smelled like pee. (I was kinda like Goldilocks!) I started biking all over Fish creek, trying to find a place to sleep.

But there was something moving in the bushes.

Now, I know that in Fish Creek the most dangerous things you'll ever see are Coyotes. But still, it was night time, and I was scared. So, I started whistling a tune, to scare away the animals. I found Christmas Carols to be the Easiest to whistle.

Eventually, I gave up on my plan of sleeping there, so I decided to leave. Only one thing.

I didn't have my glasses on.

I must have left them at one of the places I had tried to sleep!

So now, I'm biking through Fishcreek, whistling Christmas Carols, looking for my glasses. But my lips are getting tired of whistling, so instead every time something moves, I growl at it. I can't find my glasses anywear. It doesn't help that it's now really dark out, and I can't see very well anyway without my glasses! So I give up- and start biking out of Fishcreek.

By this time, I'm terrified. I'm biking so fast, growling at everything that moves. I come around a corner- and there, in the middle of the path, is a big, brown animal, taller than me, and it's moving! I'm going too fast, there is now way to stop, I've got to go right past this creature of the night. I let out a long, loud growl at the animal. It turns and looks right at me, and goes "hello."

I got out of Fish Creek, all out of breath, sitting on my bike under a streetlight. The creature had been simply a man, who had his shirt off. I wondered what some man was doing wandering around Fish Creek at 3 am with his shirt off. He, no doubt, wondered what some kid was doing biking around fish creek at 3am, growling at people.

I had felt fear that night. When I saw the man, I literally, went cold- complete, I believe, with goosebumps.

Another story...

A few years later, I was at OLVC, and I decided to pray a Rosary. At night. In the Rosary garden. (It was the weekend, I wasn't breaking any rules!)

The Rosary garden is surrounded by forrest, and usually has a few bats flying through it, but at night the stones seem almost irridescent. So, I was praying, and suddenly I heard something moving in the forrest nearby. This thing was big. This was not some rabbit or bird or squirrel. This thing was definitely bigger than a coyote or even a wolf. It sounded bigger than a deer!

Then, it grunted. It was very close to me. I could hear it breathing. But I couldn't see it.

But I thought- y'know what? I'm praying a Rosary. I am doing something Holy. My life is Gods. If God wants me to die today- that's His problem. I'm gonna keep doing His will.

So I finnished my Rosary. I found out the next day that the animal was a moose.

We say that "Courage is a virtue". That means that it is something God desires us to have. But it is different from 'bravery'. Bravery could just mean not experienceing fear. Courage, like all virtues, is dirrected towards the good. So Courage is doing what is right, despite your fear. It took courage for me to stay in the Rosary Garden, because though I was afraid, I believed that it was what God wanted me to do. It is not courage to go out and play in traffic. That is called "Stupidity".

God has called us to do something pretty radical. He has called us to live our lives in a manner that goes against everything we know- it goes against our culture, our own desires, even our very nature. This is Scary!

The Bible is full of stories about people being afraid. When Gabriel appeared to Mary, what did he say? "be not afraid." And when Jesus was walking on water, and all the disciples were like "Ahhh! It's a ghost! Paddle harder boys!" Jesus said "Be not afraid."

What do you mean "Be not afraid."? You come walking on the water in the middle of a dark stormy night? Why don't you just say "I'll be right back!"?

The Bible promisses us this; 1 John 4:18 "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love."

What it coems down to is this. Fear is a lack of trust. Fear says "I don't believe that God can really do this." Jesus told his disciples over and over again not to worry. If God takes care of plants and birds, than he will take care of you! And if God has called you to do something, He will equip you!

There is a saying. "God does not call the qualified, he qualifies the called." In other words, God will give you everything you need to do His will. So stop living in fear! Stop letting fear paralyze you! When Moses was called to lead the Isrealites out of Egypt, we was like "God, I think you have the wrong guy." But God was like "I made you! I know you're the right guy! Trust me!"

And God made it happen.

Do you think God can't use you?

Lastly, I wanna talk about the apostles. This was a crew of regular guys. St Peter had a form of courage. When Jesus said he was gonna die, Peter was like "Don't worry Jesus, I'll stand by you no matter what." Then when Jesus was arrested, Peter took a sword and cut off some guys ear. But Jesus put a stop to that. The other apostles all ran away. The Bible tells us that one of the apostles was running, and one of the guards grabbed his cloak, and he turned backwards, so it was kinda like when you shirt someone in hockey- the disciple ran off naked, and the guard was like "I am not chasin' that." Then Peter denied Jesus 3 times, cause he was challenged by a little maid girl.

It's funny how we always imagine ourselves being heroic martyrs- if someone put a gun to our heads and was like "deny Christ" we'd be like "Never!", but when we're at school and someone's like "you go to Church" we're all like "yeah, my parents make me."

After Jesus died and rose again and went to heaven, even though the apostles all saw that even death was not the end for Christ, they were still scared! They all locked themselves into a room, and made sure no one was gonna find them in case they would kill them for being Christian. They probably had a little secret knock!

Then something changed. The Holy Spirit came down in tongues of fire on their heads, and they went out, and Peter, the guy who was too scared to tell a little girl he was a follower of Jesus, preached to a huge crowd... and 3000 people were converted! 3000 on his first try! Do you know what we would do if 3000 people showed up at St Cecilias for youth group?

This is the difference the Holy Spirit can make. We need to pray that the Holy Spirit would fill us, and set us on fire, and make us brave enough to stand up for what is true!