I have often thought that fear…real fear… is one of the worst human experiences. I have seen fear in the eyes of countless children and adults. Fear paralyzes people and renders them pretty much useless. Of course, there are all levels of fear and sometimes (oftentimes?) we bring fear on ourselves by anticipating the worst. Agree? In today’s passage of the holy Gospel, Jesus for sure realizes that the disciples are fearful for the future. No doubt they are asking themselves questions like… “how can we do this without the presence of Jesus”… “what if the going gets rough when we are trying to preach the good news of Jesus…who can we go to for help?” Jesus reassures the disciples (and us) by praying for His Father’s protection from the attacks of the “Evil One.” He tries to explain that if the disciples fail when He is gone back to the Father...it will be because they try to meet life just on their own strength and do not remember the presence of God, our protector. These words are comforting, BUT we are human and don’t always remember that “god will be with us.” We all have a tendency to think we can live the Christian life on our own. It doesn’t work that way. Being a Christian means being “in communion with others” and “being in communion with God.” You remember the old song, “No man is an island.” God has chosen each of us and dedicated us for His special service of loving and serving one another. He has not left us to carry out that great task with only our own strength, but by HIS grace. All we need to do is give ourselves over to Him. Sounds easy, yes? Not so! Pray for the courage and grace to allow Jesus to enter your heart and walk wi9th you day to day. It’s the only way! Don’t be afraid! At times we probably feel it would be so much easier if we could be like Lucy in the old Peanuts cartoon: Lucy says to Charlie Brown, "I would have made a great evangelist." Charlie Brown answers, "Is that so?" She says, "Yes, I convinced that boy in front of me in school that my religion is better than his religion." Charlie Brown asked, "Well, how did you do that?" And Lucy answers, "I hit him over the head with my lunch box." GOSPEL QUESTION OF THE WEEK: How do you confront your fears? Is Jesus in the process?