“And be not afraid of them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

In 1956, Nikita Kruschev addressed the 20th Communist Party Congress in a secret session in which he denounced Stalin as a tyrant and a monster. Shocked Stalinists sat in silence as Kruschev accused the former dictator of being a blood thirsty despot. At one point, a heckler interrupted Kruschev by shouting from the floor:

"Why didn't you speak out while all this was going on?"

"Who said that?" demanded Kruschev.

There was silence. No one dared breathe a word.

"Now," Kruschev said, "you know why not."

Fear. What a powerful emotion. It kept Kruschev from confronting Stalin when he was alive. It kept the heckler from confronting Kruschev. It can silence us; cripple us; panic us; rob us of our peace of mind.

We harbor fears about our health; our jobs; our finances and loved ones. We never run out of things to worry about. Certainly, some of those fears are legitimate and we need to be alert to the danger. But many of them are about things that simply need to be relinquished in prayer.

Senseless worry is the Devil's substitute for prayer. It robs us of our peace of mind by focusing our attention on things that have already happened and cannot be changed; or, on things that, in all likelihood, never will happen.

When faced with morbid fears, our prayer needs to be for the grace to take one day at a time, focusing only on what can be done here and now.

In today's Gospel, Jesus tells His disciples they need worry only about those who would destroy both body and soul in hell. But His disciples are worried about the Jewish leaders. They fear that, if they speak out and declare their faith, they will face criticism and possibly worse. He wants His followers to take heart and summon the courage they need to acknowledge Him as their Lord and Savior.

Three times in a row, he Lord says 'be not afraid.' God the father is watching over them, He says. They are never out of His sight. His Father knows the comings and goings of every sparrow; He knows every hair on our head. We are always under His watchful eye.