Fear Not 220
Posted Friday, June 12, 2026 at 07:17 PM
Verse #027 of 220
Beloved brethren in Christ, gathered in the sacred assembly of the faithful, let us ponder deeply the words from the Book of Judges, chapter four, verse eighteen: '...do not be afraid.' In the days when Jabin king of Canaan oppressed Israel with nine hundred chariots of iron, the Lord raised up Deborah the prophetess and Barak to deliver His people. As Sisera fled the battlefield at the Kishon, he sought refuge in the tent of Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite. Her words, 'Come in, my lord, come in, do not be afraid,' invite him with seeming hospitality, yet conceal the divine judgment. Historically, this narrative unfolds in the era of the judges, when Israel cycled through apostasy and deliverance, teaching that trust in the Lord alone overcomes fear of tyrants. The Early Church Fathers, drawing from this, illuminate its spiritual depths. St. Ambrose, in On the Duties of the Clergy, beholds Jael as a type of the Church, who lures the enemy of souls into her tent—the shelter of the sacraments—and slays him with the peg of the Cross, the very instrument of Christ's victory. Origen, in his Homilies on Judges, expounds the tent as the human body and the peg as the piercing word of God, driving through the temples of vain thoughts and heretical pride. From the venerable chains preserved in the Catena Aurea, we hear echoes of St. Augustine in the City of God: the iron chariots of earthly powers crumble before the unarmed faith of the saints, as the persecutions of Diocletian yielded to Constantine's cross. Do not be afraid, O Christian soul, amid the tempests of this age, for He who routed Sisera at the hand of a woman now reigns from the right hand of the Father. The Kenite alliance reminds us of our heavenly citizenship, detached from worldly powers yet instruments of providence. Let fear depart as we enter the tent of prayer, where the peg of Scripture and the hammer of grace subdue the foe within. Thus the Fathers exhort us to courage in martyrdom and daily battle against sin. #FearNot220 #FearNotUNPLUGGED #027of220 #Catholic