# Your Biggest Fear Is Secretly Controlling You - Bishop Barron's Sermon

An episode of [Daily Sermons With Bishop Robert Barron](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/6783446284), 16 Sep 2026, 14 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/74742483/your_biggest_fear_is_secretly_controlling_you_bishop_barron_s_sermon.mp3



## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Peace be with you. Those who have been following me
[0:01] Speaker 1: for a long time know that I put a great
[0:04] Speaker 1: stress on who Jesus is and that we tended to
[0:07] Speaker 1: reduce Jesus to one ethical teacher among many, right? So
[0:11] Speaker 1: I've complained about that for years, the reduction of Jesus
[0:15] Speaker 1: simply to the level of a great teacher. Now, I
[0:17] Speaker 1: don't mean thereby to imply for a minute that his
[0:21] Speaker 1: teaching isn't important or his teaching isn't astonishing because it is.
[0:27] Speaker 1: And I want to focus now this week and next
[0:29] Speaker 1: on We're reading from the 10th chapter of Matthew. Matthew 5, 6,
[0:34] Speaker 1: 7 is the Sermon on the Mount. Chapter 10 is
[0:36] Speaker 1: Jesus speaking to his disciples as he's kind of commissioning
[0:40] Speaker 1: them to go on mission. And so we get this
[0:43] Speaker 1: wonderful instruction in the spiritual life. And what we hear,
[0:48] Speaker 1: as I say, is astonishing. It'll change your life if
[0:54] Speaker 1: this teaching of Jesus really sinks in. So listen now,
[0:58] Speaker 1: here's the line that our gospel really commences with. Jesus
[1:02] Speaker 1: says to them, Fear no one. Fear no one. Now,
[1:13] Speaker 1: I submit to you, this is one of the most
[1:14] Speaker 1: challenging and strange and disquieting of Jesus' commands. It's up
[1:19] Speaker 1: there with love your enemies and bless those who curse you.
[1:25] Speaker 1: Fear no one? I mean, what world do you live in?
[1:31] Speaker 1: Paul Tillich, the great Protestant theologian, had this line I've
[1:34] Speaker 1: always loved. He said, finitude in awareness is anxiety. See
[1:40] Speaker 1: what he means is to be finite and to know
[1:43] Speaker 1: it is to be afraid. It produces anxiety. It's just
[1:49] Speaker 1: part of what it means to be a finite creature.
[1:53] Speaker 1: The word that Tillich would have used in his German
[1:55] Speaker 1: is angst. Angst, fear, our word anxiety comes from that.
[2:01] Speaker 1: They're both rooted in the Latin word angustiae, which means
[2:05] Speaker 1: the narrows or the straits. Like if a ship has
[2:10] Speaker 1: sailed into the narrows, it's in the angustiae. How often,
[2:14] Speaker 1: everybody in life, do we find ourselves between the rock
[2:16] Speaker 1: and the hard place? We've got a Sophie's Choice, some
[2:19] Speaker 1: awful decision. It's this or that. And it's terrible, and
[2:23] Speaker 1: that one's terrible too. We're finite, we're limited, and therefore
[2:28] Speaker 1: we live in fear. Now, shift from that general sense
[2:34] Speaker 1: of angst, of angustiae, to other people. Do other people
[2:41] Speaker 1: make us feel afraid a lot? Yeah, and here's why.
[2:47] Speaker 1: Because we all know this deep truth about the human condition.
[2:53] Speaker 1: We all know there are a lot of things that
[2:55] Speaker 1: frighten us. Therefore, if you want to control somebody, you
[3:02] Speaker 1: want to hurt somebody, you want to manipulate somebody, frighten them.
[3:10] Speaker 1: Find out what they're afraid of and use that to
[3:15] Speaker 1: manipulate and maneuver them. I'm kind of a student of
[3:21] Speaker 1: history and biography, love reading about the presidents and great
[3:25] Speaker 1: historical figures. And I'll just say it bluntly. One thing
[3:29] Speaker 1: practically all leaders have in common is this principle. They know, okay,
[3:36] Speaker 1: if I want to bring people somewhere from point A
[3:40] Speaker 1: to point B, I want to lead them. One method
[3:43] Speaker 1: is to find out what are they afraid of and
[3:47] Speaker 1: then threaten them with that. If you've got enough power
[3:50] Speaker 1: and you know what people are afraid of, you can
[3:52] Speaker 1: get them to do whatever you want. And that's why
[3:55] Speaker 1: a lot of us go through life afraid of a
[3:59] Speaker 1: lot of people, threatened by a lot of people. All right,
[4:06] Speaker 1: so Jesus says, fear no one. Well, again, how is
[4:12] Speaker 1: that possible? If finitude and awareness is anxiety, and it is,
[4:17] Speaker 1: And then ruthless people know how to use our fears
[4:20] Speaker 1: to manipulate us. Well, I mean, how do I avoid
[4:24] Speaker 1: being afraid? How do I find a place in this
[4:28] Speaker 1: life where I'm not afraid? He commands us, fear no one.
[4:36] Speaker 1: Think of the opening sermon of St. Pope John Paul II.
[4:39] Speaker 1: What's his great line? Be not afraid. And John Paul II, heck,
[4:44] Speaker 1: he lived through The Nazis, he lived through the worst
[4:47] Speaker 1: of the communist dictatorship in his native country. I mean,
[4:52] Speaker 1: he knew all about, listen, the ways that ruthless and
[4:55] Speaker 1: tyrannical people frighten others into acquiescence. He grew up with it.
[5:01] Speaker 1: He lived in the midst of that culture. And yet,
[5:04] Speaker 1: it was precisely John Paul who could say at the
[5:08] Speaker 1: beginning of his papacy, don't be afraid. Echoing this command
[5:13] Speaker 1: of Jesus, fear nobody. Okay, so how's that possible? It's possible, everybody,
[5:21] Speaker 1: if and only if you go through something like a metanoia.
[5:26] Speaker 1: Remember I told you before that word in Greek, we
[5:29] Speaker 1: translate it usually as conversion. Meta means beyond, nous means mind.
[5:35] Speaker 1: Metanoia means go beyond the mind you have. Change your
[5:42] Speaker 1: way of thinking and seeing. Can I suggest... the fundamental
[5:48] Speaker 1: attitude of your life. Now, what do I mean? Well,
[5:52] Speaker 1: in terms of this gospel, it means transitioning from a
[5:56] Speaker 1: preoccupation with the body to a preoccupation with the soul.
[6:04] Speaker 1: Look at all the things I've been talking about, the
[6:05] Speaker 1: things that frighten us. I'm afraid of losing comfort. I'm
[6:11] Speaker 1: afraid of losing peace. I'm afraid of losing my health.
[6:14] Speaker 1: I'm afraid of pain. I'm afraid of Look, all these
[6:18] Speaker 1: things that affect me at the level of the body,
[6:22] Speaker 1: and that's exactly what ruthless and tyrannical people use to
[6:25] Speaker 1: manipulate us, our fears of these bodily pains. But what
[6:33] Speaker 1: if you made a transition? What if you underwent a metanoia,
[6:39] Speaker 1: and now the center of your life is not your
[6:42] Speaker 1: body and its preoccupations, but the soul? Now, what's the soul?
[6:50] Speaker 1: Let's call it that dimension of you that connects you
[6:56] Speaker 1: to God, that eternal dimension of you, that new and
[7:05] Speaker 1: deeper center that links you to the power that is
[7:11] Speaker 1: here and now creating the universe. Oh, think now, Teresa
[7:16] Speaker 1: of Avila, you know, live in the interior castle. It's
[7:20] Speaker 1: the same idea. See, move from the kind of dangerous,
[7:25] Speaker 1: superficial side of your life to this deep place in
[7:28] Speaker 1: the center where you live in communion with God. From
[7:35] Speaker 1: that central place, you can look at the body and
[7:40] Speaker 1: all of its successes and failures and preoccupations and fears
[7:45] Speaker 1: with a certain detachment. Because you found a place of
[7:50] Speaker 1: peace beyond the fears associated with the body. See, we're talking, everybody,
[7:58] Speaker 1: about one of the most fundamental moves in the spiritual life.
[8:03] Speaker 1: The only one that can say, I'm not afraid of anybody,
[8:07] Speaker 1: is someone who's moved from the surface to the depth. Now,
[8:13] Speaker 1: let's make this more concrete. Think of someone like St.
[8:17] Speaker 1: Thomas More, a hero of mine. More had every possible
[8:22] Speaker 1: advantage in terms of his bodily well-being. He was a
[8:25] Speaker 1: very wealthy man. He was an aristocrat. He lived in
[8:28] Speaker 1: a fine mansion. He had the respect of his peers.
[8:31] Speaker 1: He was well-known all over Europe, a renowned literary political figure.
[8:35] Speaker 1: He was a confidant of the king. I mean, More
[8:38] Speaker 1: had all that. Was he afraid of losing all of it? Well, yeah, sure.
[8:43] Speaker 1: At one level, I'm sure he was. But see, when
[8:45] Speaker 1: the decisive moment came and King Henry VIII said, look,
[8:49] Speaker 1: I'm taking over the church in England here, and more
[8:52] Speaker 1: stood against him, what did Henry VIII do? Well, one
[8:56] Speaker 1: by one, he took away all these bodily advantages. He
[9:02] Speaker 1: took away his money. He took away his home. He
[9:04] Speaker 1: took away his family. He put him in prison. He
[9:07] Speaker 1: took away his freedom. At the end of the day,
[9:10] Speaker 1: he took away his life. But more standing on the
[9:14] Speaker 1: scaffold could say, I die the king's good servant, but
[9:22] Speaker 1: God's first. See, where was he standing? I don't mean
[9:27] Speaker 1: the scaffold. I mean standing spiritually to make a statement
[9:31] Speaker 1: like that. He had to have made this transition from
[9:34] Speaker 1: the body to the soul. He had to have moved
[9:39] Speaker 1: to a deeper place where he wasn't afraid. Fear no one.
[9:47] Speaker 1: Fear no one. You know what comes to mind here, too?
[9:54] Speaker 1: The great Martin Luther King. We all know the I
[9:56] Speaker 1: Have a Dream speech, right? Which is magnificent. But another
[10:00] Speaker 1: speech of King's that I think is maybe as impressive
[10:03] Speaker 1: is the one he gave literally the night before he
[10:06] Speaker 1: was assassinated. He goes to address a group of his
[10:09] Speaker 1: followers in Memphis. And he speaks in these prophetic tones,
[10:15] Speaker 1: as though he left that moment and went to this
[10:19] Speaker 1: deeper or higher place. And he says to them, I've
[10:24] Speaker 1: seen the promised land. I might not get there with you,
[10:27] Speaker 1: but I've seen the promised land. I've been to the mountaintop.
[10:31] Speaker 1: And what was he talking about? Well, we're not entirely sure.
[10:34] Speaker 1: But it seems to me he was witnessing to a
[10:38] Speaker 1: transition to this deeper or higher place. I've been to
[10:42] Speaker 1: the mountaintop. But then here's the line. Look it up
[10:45] Speaker 1: on YouTube. Look up that speech. He says, I'm not
[10:50] Speaker 1: fearing any man. Again, the night before, he's shot to death.
[10:56] Speaker 1: So he was being threatened in the most dramatic way
[11:01] Speaker 1: possible at the level of his body. But he could say,
[11:04] Speaker 1: I'm not fearing any man. He had moved into the
[11:09] Speaker 1: space that Jesus talks about here, where you can say,
[11:13] Speaker 1: fear no one. Fear no one. You know, I'll close
[11:18] Speaker 1: with this. I've been confirming kids, as I record these words,
[11:22] Speaker 1: I'm just finishing up the confirmation season, right? And we
[11:25] Speaker 1: call upon the Holy Spirit who comes bearing his gifts, wisdom, knowledge, understanding, piety, counsel, fortitude.
[11:36] Speaker 1: But the last one is called fear of the Lord.
[11:40] Speaker 1: It's very interesting, fear of the Lord. Doesn't mean, of course,
[11:44] Speaker 1: you know, be afraid of God. I explained to the kids,
[11:48] Speaker 1: here's what it means. It means that you're more afraid
[11:54] Speaker 1: of not doing God's will than anything in the world.
[12:01] Speaker 1: I do God's will, I'll be unpopular. I do God's will,
[12:06] Speaker 1: I could lose my job. I do God's will, they
[12:08] Speaker 1: could throw me in prison. I do God's will, they
[12:11] Speaker 1: could kill me. If you have fear of the Lord,
[12:16] Speaker 1: you say, That's not concerning me. I'm not fearing any man,
[12:23] Speaker 1: King says. More, I die the king's good servant, but
[12:27] Speaker 1: God's first. What are they witnessing to? They have the
[12:32] Speaker 1: fear of the Lord. Now, listen again to Jesus as
[12:36] Speaker 1: he concludes this little section. Do not be afraid. of
[12:42] Speaker 1: those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Right.
[12:49] Speaker 1: There's nobody in this world, there's no tyrant, there's no oppressive,
[12:56] Speaker 1: cruel dictator that can kill the soul. They can kill
[13:00] Speaker 1: the body, yes indeed. They can. In fact, there's a
[13:04] Speaker 1: line from Gandhi, I've always loved too. Gandhi said this
[13:08] Speaker 1: when he was being, you know, facing all the opposition.
[13:13] Speaker 1: They may torture my body. They may break my bones.
[13:18] Speaker 1: They may even kill me. Then they will have my
[13:22] Speaker 1: dead body, but not my obedience. That's an extraordinary line,
[13:27] Speaker 1: isn't it? Someone could say that only if he's made
[13:32] Speaker 1: this transition to the soul. So again, Jesus, don't be
[13:36] Speaker 1: afraid to of those who can kill the body but
[13:40] Speaker 1: cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the one
[13:44] Speaker 1: who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. Ah, okay.
[13:51] Speaker 1: That's fear of the Lord. Fear no man. Fear no
[13:56] Speaker 1: person in this world. That's the bodily preoccupation. Rather, be
[14:03] Speaker 1: in fear, if you want, of the one who is
[14:05] Speaker 1: commanding you at the level of the soul You make
[14:09] Speaker 1: that transition, everybody, your whole life changes. And God bless you.

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