Like it or not, we live in an altogether unpredictable world. It’s clear that we can never know how things will turn out, how our projects, our hopes and dreams will evolve, or how other people will respond to our words and actions. We can’t be sure what tomorrow will offer us, and often, because of difficult and painful experiences we’ve undergone in this world of constant change, we tend to react with fear, dismay and distress. 

Perhaps we begin to fear losing control over our lives, and maybe we allow ourselves to be threatened by the reactions, and especially the negative feedback, of others. Possibly we are dismayed by a sense of physical or psychological inadequacy, or troubled by a loss of courage or a fear of unexpected injury, pain or loss. 

Worry. Intimidation. Angst. How might/should we as disciples of Jesus Christ react to these trials? How readily do we allow the Spirit of the Risen Lord to move in us and to guide us in our journey to, into and through the unknown future?  

For many people, a major temptation in these circumstances is to deny the truth – consciously or unconsciously – and to try to develop and maintain a sense, an illusion, of control, of being in charge of our own lives and the lives of others. 

We do this in so many ways. Many of us, in fact, have become experts at developing webs of illusions that please and satisfy us, at least for a time.  

Perhaps we do it by denying who and how we really are, and by developing a persona, a public image of our personality, or a social role that we adopt.  Much of the time, we evolve our illusion of control by seeking to manipulate others, often in our very own families and among our intimate friends. The result of these dangerous ruses more often than not is major psychological and moral damage that can be lethal. 

Equally often we hurt others and ourselves by selfishly hoarding our talents, our abilities, our goods and our resources for our own potential future need. Finally, and perhaps the inevitable consequence of the above, is the insidious development of barriers between ourselves and others,strangers, who mirror to us our own vulnerability.  

In today’s Gospel, God reminds us that we need not fear at all, we need not protect ourselves from the harshness and danger of an unpredictable world, for God is our Creator and Sovereign, and God Loves us. God chooses freely to create all that exists out of Love, and God sustains us in existence, nourishes us, strengthens us, out of that same Love. 

God’s Love is the driving force of the universe and of the smallest newborn child. God’s Love is the hope of the physically-impaired person, and of the person stricken by dementia. God’s love is the courage of the grieving father and of the pregnant woman. 

Today, Jesus Christ Risen gives us the authentic solution to fear: “Abide in my love.” 

Gabrielle Johnson, edited by Lloyd Baugh SJ