# Be Not Afraid - Bishop Barron's Daily Sermon

An episode of [Daily Sermons With Bishop Robert Barron](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/6783446284), 9 Aug 2026, 14 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/73269753/be_not_afraid_bishop_barron_s_sunday_sermon.mp3



## Transcript

[0:01] Speaker 1: Peast be with you, friends of The readings for today
[0:03] Speaker 1: are really magnificent, and they are all about something central
[0:07] Speaker 1: to the spiritual life, namely fear. Now what do I mean? Well,
[0:12] Speaker 1: years ago I was on a retreat and the treat director,
[0:15] Speaker 1: so there are two basic questions always to ask. First,
[0:18] Speaker 1: what do you want? Deep down? What do you want? Secondly,
[0:25] Speaker 1: what are you afraid of? Deep down? So we want
[0:29] Speaker 1: all kinds of things, But what is it that, finally
[0:32] Speaker 1: and ultimately you want. That's a really clarifying question. Can
[0:37] Speaker 1: I propose it now to everyone listening? What are you
[0:40] Speaker 1: looking for? You know, when a young kid would come
[0:43] Speaker 1: to a benedicted monastery, still true to this day in
[0:46] Speaker 1: a more formal way, but they'd be asked, what do
[0:49] Speaker 1: you seek? What do you want here? But the second
[0:55] Speaker 1: grade clarifying question is what are you afraid of? Again,
[0:59] Speaker 1: we're afraid of all things, but deep down, ultimately, what
[1:04] Speaker 1: are you afraid of? In a way, answering those two
[1:08] Speaker 1: questions will tell you everything you need to know about
[1:11] Speaker 1: yourself spiritually speaking. So with that in mind, let's look
[1:15] Speaker 1: at reading number one, which is from the great Prophet Jeremiah.
[1:20] Speaker 1: Is there anybody in the Old testament more fascinating than Jeremiah,
[1:23] Speaker 1: who has given this kind of awful assignment. He's called
[1:28] Speaker 1: to be a prophet, and the message he has for
[1:30] Speaker 1: Israel is this terrible message. And the Lord tells him,
[1:34] Speaker 1: and it turns out to be true. No one's gonna
[1:37] Speaker 1: listen to you, and they're all gonna end up hating you. Well,
[1:39] Speaker 1: that's exactly what happened with Jeremiah. So listen to him.
[1:42] Speaker 1: Now we hear him speaking, I hear the whisperings of many.
[1:48] Speaker 1: Terror on every side, denounce let us denounce him. All
[1:53] Speaker 1: those who are my friends are on the watch for
[1:55] Speaker 1: any misstep of mine. Well, here's the prophet, in the
[1:59] Speaker 1: midst of his fear and despair. I was called to
[2:03] Speaker 1: deliver this message. I've done so. And what's the result.
[2:06] Speaker 1: Everybody hates me. Terror on every side, everybody's denouncing me. Well,
[2:14] Speaker 1: a lot of us experience life this way. Don't wait.
[2:17] Speaker 1: There are times when it feels like everything's going wrong.
[2:21] Speaker 1: All of our fears are being realized, all of our
[2:24] Speaker 1: best efforts have met with failure. But now listen to
[2:28] Speaker 1: him as he continues. But the Lord is with me
[2:35] Speaker 1: like a mighty champion. My persecutors will stumble, they will
[2:40] Speaker 1: not triumph. In the midst of his fears, and they
[2:46] Speaker 1: are profound, he experiences a deeper piece. Yes, terror on
[2:54] Speaker 1: every side, every human being is against me. But in
[2:58] Speaker 1: the midst of it, I experienced this great peace because
[3:03] Speaker 1: God is my champion. Notice, please, God being his champion
[3:08] Speaker 1: does not mean that the fears go away. Oh, because
[3:13] Speaker 1: since God's on my side, I won't have any fear.
[3:17] Speaker 1: No one's going to denounce me. I'm going to be
[3:19] Speaker 1: a total worldly success. No no, no, no no. Jeremiah was
[3:23] Speaker 1: a failure his whole life long, and he died a failure.
[3:26] Speaker 1: He died with people denouncing him on every side. Yet
[3:31] Speaker 1: in the midst of it, despite all that, he felt
[3:36] Speaker 1: the peace that comes from knowing that God is his champion.
[3:43] Speaker 1: Think of Teresa of Abeli's famous image of the interior castle.
[3:49] Speaker 1: But the very existence of a castle presupposes trouble. You
[3:53] Speaker 1: wouldn't build a fortified castle unless there were enemies out
[3:56] Speaker 1: to get you, unless you were surrounded on every side
[4:00] Speaker 1: by danger. But despite the dangers, in the midst of
[4:06] Speaker 1: the dangers, there's this castle, this place of safety and peace.
[4:14] Speaker 1: That's the place everybody that the saints find. Now, with
[4:19] Speaker 1: that in mind, let's turn to the Gospel, which is
[4:23] Speaker 1: giving us a similar dynamic. Jesus said to the twelve,
[4:31] Speaker 1: fear no one. Extraordinary huh, the Lord said, fear no one.
[4:41] Speaker 1: Then he amplifies, do not be afraid of those who
[4:45] Speaker 1: kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Now we see,
[4:54] Speaker 1: if you want to put it this way, the metaphysical
[4:57] Speaker 1: ground of this dynamic I've been talking about. Don't fear
[5:02] Speaker 1: those paper tigers who can only harm the body but
[5:08] Speaker 1: cannot touch the soul. What's the soul? Call it the
[5:15] Speaker 1: deepest central part of us, through which we have contact
[5:22] Speaker 1: with God. So yeah, I'm surrounded by terrors on every side.
[5:29] Speaker 1: I've got enemies all around me. I've got failures and
[5:32] Speaker 1: fears and anxieties all around me. But at the level
[5:36] Speaker 1: of my soul, I am connected to that power which
[5:44] Speaker 1: is here and now creating the universe. In my soul
[5:49] Speaker 1: the depth of who I am, I'm in touch with
[5:53] Speaker 1: that which transcend space and time, that which lies beyond
[5:58] Speaker 1: the vagaries of this world, that which mocks all those
[6:04] Speaker 1: fears that surround me. Don't be afraid of those that
[6:08] Speaker 1: can only harm the body, but can't touch this deepest
[6:13] Speaker 1: place in me. See, what are you afraid of? I'm
[6:19] Speaker 1: afraid of all these all these enemies around me. I'm
[6:22] Speaker 1: afraid of being a failure. I'm afraid of not realizing
[6:25] Speaker 1: my dreams. I'm afraid of what they're all gonna say
[6:27] Speaker 1: and think about me, paper tigers. Don't be afraid of
[6:31] Speaker 1: those who can harm the body. Indeed, listen what the
[6:36] Speaker 1: Lord says, not just harm the body, who can kill
[6:39] Speaker 1: the body. So, okay, I've got such enemies. I have
[6:44] Speaker 1: so many persecutors. They're gonna put me to death. Yeah,
[6:48] Speaker 1: I know, says the Lord. Don't be afraid of them.
[6:54] Speaker 1: Why because they cannot reach to that deepest, immortal, spiritual
[6:59] Speaker 1: death mention of yourself that we call the soul. Now
[7:05] Speaker 1: remember that question. I open up with what are you
[7:09] Speaker 1: afraid of? So let's say you followed the Lord here
[7:12] Speaker 1: and he said, okay, okay, I'm not afraid of these
[7:15] Speaker 1: paper tigers that can only kill my body. This on
[7:19] Speaker 1: when he says, no, rather be afraid of the one
[7:24] Speaker 1: who can destroy both soul and body in Khenna. Okay,
[7:30] Speaker 1: now we're getting to really serious business. Don't be afraid
[7:35] Speaker 1: of those on the outside. Terror on every side. Yeah,
[7:39] Speaker 1: I know, all they can do is harm your body.
[7:42] Speaker 1: But do indeed be afraid of the one who can
[7:47] Speaker 1: kill both body and soul. In other words, have in
[7:51] Speaker 1: you the fear of the Lord. See, because your soul,
[7:58] Speaker 1: through resistance to God, can lose the contact with God.
[8:03] Speaker 1: That's its natural space. Of course, the soul naturally is
[8:07] Speaker 1: attuned to God. But through that sin that we call
[8:12] Speaker 1: mortal sin, a killing sin, it can divorce itself from God.
[8:21] Speaker 1: So be afraid of that one. Be afraid of the
[8:24] Speaker 1: God who can kill both body and soul. To see,
[8:27] Speaker 1: how what's at stake here? Everybody is a kind of
[8:30] Speaker 1: prioritizing of our fears. What's most fearsome to you? Oh oh, oh,
[8:38] Speaker 1: all these things out in the world that can harm me,
[8:40] Speaker 1: that's nothing, nothing compared to your relationship with God. If
[8:48] Speaker 1: the soul has died, say through sin and through neglect
[8:53] Speaker 1: of God and through hatred of God. If the soul
[8:56] Speaker 1: has died, then you are really in trouble. Worry about
[9:00] Speaker 1: the paper tigers who could just harm your body. Now
[9:04] Speaker 1: there's the principle. I'm gonna give you just a couple
[9:06] Speaker 1: of examples, because where do you see this, You see
[9:10] Speaker 1: this dynamic in the Saints. Think of young Karl Voiti One,
[9:18] Speaker 1: the kid that grew up to be saint Pope John
[9:20] Speaker 1: Paul the Second. He experienced the worst of the world
[9:27] Speaker 1: as a young kid. The Nazis invade his home country. Indeed,
[9:30] Speaker 1: his home city put to death, I mean, thousands of
[9:34] Speaker 1: people killed off. The intelligency of Poland forced him and
[9:38] Speaker 1: his seminary classmates underground. This the Auschwitz was just a
[9:43] Speaker 1: few miles from where John Paul the Second was going
[9:45] Speaker 1: to school. Then they were succeeded by the Communists, who
[9:50] Speaker 1: were maybe slightly slight improvement, but not that much over
[9:54] Speaker 1: the Nazis, another oppressive regime. Here's someone who experienced the
[9:59] Speaker 1: w the worst of humanity, talk about forces that were
[10:03] Speaker 1: able to harm the body, to kill the body. Yes,
[10:06] Speaker 1: indeed he knew all about it. But yet when he
[10:08] Speaker 1: becomes pope, what does he say, be not afraid. He's
[10:15] Speaker 1: echoing Jesus in this gospel, who says, fear nobody. He
[10:20] Speaker 1: saw the worst of humanity. Never accused John Paul the
[10:23] Speaker 1: Second of being naive about human wickedness. Now, no, no, no,
[10:27] Speaker 1: he saw it up close. But yet he knew. He
[10:31] Speaker 1: knew about this peace that abides at the level of
[10:36] Speaker 1: the soul, and that's where he lived. Think of that
[10:41] Speaker 1: wonderful saint from the Cristero period in Mexico, you know,
[10:45] Speaker 1: when there was such a brutal persecution of the church,
[10:48] Speaker 1: the little Jose Sanchoes del Rio fourteen years old. I
[10:52] Speaker 1: often tell his story when I'm doing the of confirmation
[10:56] Speaker 1: masses because the kids here only the fourteen fifteen, same age.
[11:00] Speaker 1: Here's Jose Sanchez del Rio captured by the enemies of
[11:04] Speaker 1: the church and offered every opportunity. Hey, we'll make you famous,
[11:09] Speaker 1: we'll make you rich if you just, you know, cave in.
[11:12] Speaker 1: That would have been a great propaganda coup for them.
[11:16] Speaker 1: But this young kid, he wasn't afraid of them. They
[11:21] Speaker 1: tortured him that they badgered him, they tortured him psychologically
[11:24] Speaker 1: and physically. He wasn't afraid of them, and finally they
[11:28] Speaker 1: killed them. But he wasn't afraid of those who can
[11:33] Speaker 1: just kill the body. Rather, he had the fear of
[11:37] Speaker 1: the Lord. He was more afraid of the one who
[11:41] Speaker 1: can kill both body and soul. In other words, he
[11:44] Speaker 1: maintained his connection to God. That's what makes him a saint.
[11:51] Speaker 1: You know one more example. I was just thinking about
[11:53] Speaker 1: him because we as I record these words, we had
[11:55] Speaker 1: his feast day a little while ago. The great saint
[11:57] Speaker 1: Charles Lwanga, the Saint of Uganda, young man in the
[12:01] Speaker 1: court of the king. The king makes sexual advances toward him.
[12:05] Speaker 1: He refuses. The king tells him he has to give
[12:08] Speaker 1: up his faith. He refuses, and Charles Lwango, all of
[12:11] Speaker 1: twenty five years old, is burned alive a place called
[12:15] Speaker 1: Namugongol that's now where a million Catholics to send every
[12:19] Speaker 1: year on his feast day to honor him. Was he
[12:23] Speaker 1: afraid of those who could harm the body, even kill
[12:29] Speaker 1: the body. I wasn't afraid of that. He was more
[12:33] Speaker 1: afraid of the one who could kill both body and soul.
[12:35] Speaker 1: In other words, he maintained his connection to God. I
[12:40] Speaker 1: love the detail that as he died, he's being burned alive.
[12:43] Speaker 1: As he died, the only thing people heard him say
[12:46] Speaker 1: was a long sigh, Oh God. In other words, he
[12:51] Speaker 1: maintained his connection at the level of the soul with
[12:54] Speaker 1: God despite the worst persecution of the world. Terror on
[12:58] Speaker 1: every side. You bet, from Jeremiah to Charles Lawanga to
[13:02] Speaker 1: John Paul the second. But what are you afraid of? Finally,
[13:08] Speaker 1: what are you afraid of? Those that can harm the body?
[13:12] Speaker 1: Or you have the fear of the Lord? Do you
[13:16] Speaker 1: maintain a contact with the Lord at the level of
[13:19] Speaker 1: your soul? Finally, everybody, that's all that matters, and God
[13:27] Speaker 1: bless you.

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