Do Not Be Afraid!

Each week we let Saint Pope John Paul II share meaningful signposts to spark socio-economic resolves through justice and righteousness combined with mercy and compassion; in short, love.

Brothers and sisters do not be afraid to welcome Christ and accept his power. Help the Pope and all those who wish to serve Christ and with Christ's power to serve the human person and the whole of humankind.

Do not be afraid. Open wide the doors for Christ. To his saving power open the boundaries of States; economic and political systems, the vast fields of culture, civilization and development.

Do not be afraid. Christ knows "what is in men and women". He alone knows. 

So often today men and women do not know what is within them, in the depths of their minds and hearts.

So often they are uncertain about the meaning of life on this earth. They are assailed by doubt, a doubt which turns into despair.

We ask you therefore, we beg you with humility and trust, let Christ speak to you. He alone has words of life, yes, of eternal life. 

Precisely today the whole Church is celebrating "World Mission Day"; that is, she is praying, meditating and acting in order that Christ's words of life may reach all people and be received by them as a message of hope, salvation, and total liberation.…

Simon Peter proclaims: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 

Yes, Brothers and sons and daughters, these words first of all. 

Their content reveals to our eyes the mystery of the living God, the mystery to which the Son has brought us close. Nobody, in fact, has brought the living God as close to men and revealed him as he alone did. In our knowledge of God, in our journey towards God, we are totally linked to the power of these words: "He who sees me sees the Father."  He who is infinite, inscrutable, ineffable, has come close to us in Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary in the stable at Bethlehem. 

All of you who are still seeking God, all of you who already have the inestimable good fortune to believe, and also you who are tormented by doubt: please listen once again, today in this sacred place, to the words uttered by Simon Peter. In those words, is the faith of the Church. In those same words is the new truth, indeed, the ultimate and definitive truth about humankind: the son of the living God—"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.…”

The absolute and yet sweet and gentle power of the Lord responds to the whole depths of the human person, to his loftiest aspirations of intellect, will and heart. It does not speak the language of force but expresses itself in charity and truth. 

Excerpts, Homily of His Holiness John Paul II for the inauguration of his pontificate,St. Peter's Square Sunday, 22 October 1978