With the many people I have spoken to during these days, in person as well as in social media, the prevailing sentiment is FEAR.

• Fear of sickness: What if I or someone in the family gets the virus?
• Fear for money: How can I pay all these expenses without work?
• Fear of the future: When will this end and will life ever return to normal?
• Fear of lost plans and dreams: How can you plan and dream when everything in this world has stopped?

In the Gospel, Mary Magdalene and the other women were told twice, first by the angel and then by Jesus, “Do not be afraid.”

How then can we not be afraid in times like these? Let us always remember:

1. God never abandoned His people. In the many readings starting from Old Testament to the New Testament, God was always there. In fact, God sent his only begotten Son because he loved the world so much. Do not fear, what can God not do for people who cry out to Him.
   
2. Change indeed brings Fear, but it is inevitable. Before this Covid Pandemic hit us, how many of us would only shake our heads because the world had really gone astray: God is mocked, the wrong is made right, and yes, evil seems to prevail. Consider this Pandemic the change the world needed so much. Change is never easy, but it is most necessary.
   
3. God will never abandon us: I once saw on You Tube a certain Fr. James Blount, who is an exorcist-priest. What does he say, “…extraordinary water for extraordinary times”. He said use the water blessed by the priest during the exorcism blessing to protect ourselves in these times.

One of the many ways that God will assure us that he is still in control even when there are so many things to fear:

• First, we bring up to the Lord our fears, “What are we afraid about?”
• Second, we remember and recall the words of the Lord, “Do not be afraid.”
• Third, we ask the Lord to open our hearts and minds to see his mysterious ways. Especially in these times.