Homily delivered by Fr. Guy Guibelondo, SJ, Campus Minister, during the High School Mass celebrating Mother Mary's last September 8, 2005.

      Today we celebrate the birthday of an awesome person.

      Mr. Mel Chua of the Science department is awesome, and it is his birthday today. And even as we greet him – happy birthday Sir Mel – and pray for him by including him in the mass intentions for today, on his birthday, he is not the person I am referring to.

      The awesome person I am referring to is the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose birthday we remember today.

      Many have looked at her life from different perspectives. Today, we shall look at it from the point of view of fear.

      In recent times, people have earned big bucks from exploiting fear. In fact, we even have reality shows like Fear Factor . People earn money if fear is not a factor for them: if they face alligators and spiders, jump from speeding vehicles, endure a casket of worms, and eat sheep’s eyes and whatnot.

      Some are afraid of heights. Others are afraid of getting hurt. Still others dreadfully fear a broken heart. There are those of you who are afraid of the dark! Hindi kayo takot sa suntukan pero takot kayo sa di nyo nakikita. Most of the students here at Xavier School are afraid of one color. Green. Not La Salle green, but that of green slips. Some of you are afraid of numbers: 74 and lower especially if this appears on your report card. We fear punishment and embarrassment, and that is why would rather lie than be punished or shamed. Most of us are afraid of losing our lives. And because for most of us fear is a factor, it can determine what we can do and who we cannot become, if we allow it.

      Mary, the mother of God, while she might have not been any different, needs a second look. Yes, she also must have had her share of fears. She had to, for she grew up in a society that only counted men. Women and children for the Jews at that time were not people; they were property. She grew up in a society that severely punished deviants: those who were found to have disobeyed the laws of their faith and the laws of the land, which for them was one and the same, like being pregnant without a husband, were punished by stoning. Women like them were stoned to death.

      While there would have been that fear, Mary showed great courage like no other. She dared go against accepted norms. She bore the son that the angel told her she will have; thus, going against her fear of death.

Our gospel story tells us about Joseph, the husband of Mary. God’s messenger, the angel, was clear in his message. DO NOT FEAR. It must have made Joseph all the more fearful. He must have thought: Ano na nga ba itong napasukan ko? In fact, he planned to dump Mary. He didn’t want the shame that her child would bring; it wasn’t his. He was afraid of becoming the laughing stock of their village. He feared for his image on top of the fact that he knew it was injustice to him to father the child.

      Despite his probably still existing doubts, Joseph rose to the challenge. He conquered his fear of being ridiculed. He accepted the angel’s command and became the foster father of Jesus.

      What happened to Mary and Joseph that made them overcome their own fears? And if they did get over their fear, why do we read also in the Gospel that they fled to Egypt with Jesus? Hindi pa ba naalis ang takot nila para sa sariling buhay nila?

      WE CAN ONLY OVERCOME FEAR WITH SOMETHING GREATER THAN WHAT WE FEAR! In the case of Joseph, the awesome appearance of the angel of God telling him to stay with Mary was an assurance that all will be well. Even if his community will ridicule him, he knew he had somebody who was much greater than himself and infinitely greater than his community.

      Mary, for her part, was informed by another anggelion , an angel, about her role. She was going to be the mother of the Son of God. She will be the instrument so we can experience God. This great possibility and the resulting change in the history of man and womankind made Mary throw all cautions to the wind – she risked life and all and said her yes to God.

      Mary and Joseph found a bigger reason than their fear, and this reason was God because He was with them. The only reason why they fled to Egypt was not because they were afraid to die. It was because the God given to their care for the world would be harmed.

      For us here, God is also telling us what we should do to be faithful to the lives we live, though in a less spectacular way. However, we seem resist it. We do not obey what we already know in our hearts because of a fear. Fear of losing. Losing the chance to enjoy TV shows, the chance to play computer games, the chance to chat… the chance to play the guitar. We are afraid of losing our friends. Ayaw kong mapahiya.

      And so we lie with our words and actions in the hope that we will not lose out on life, and not lose face and friends. We lie in the hope that it will buy us time. We lie some more because it will buy us more time and postpone the embarrassment or the punishment. But when lying has become part of us, a habit, it has a way of blinding us so that we do not see that in the end, everyone knows the truth except us. By then we would not have only lost face; we would have lost our friends and our very self. By then, we might have lost God, as well. THIS IS WHAT WE SHOULD ALL BE AFRAID OF.

      My friends, if there is anything we should remember as we confront our fears to conquer them – whatever they are or whoever they are – is the message to Joseph in our gospel today. We should always keep in our hearts the message that Mary kept in hers as she faced her fears, overcome them and did what she had to do. DO NOT FEAR. GOD IS WITH US.

      Thus, for us, fear should not be a factor. God should be.

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