Eventide & Altar

Paul kneels and prays that his readers would be filled with the fullness of God. Today's Gospel gives the harder companion: Jesus says he came not to establish peace but division, that even households will split over him. That is not a comfortable reading, and it does not get more comfortable with age.

Today marks the anniversary of Saint John Paul II's papal inauguration in 1978, when he told a massive crowd, "Be not afraid," words that would define his entire pontificate. He was a young pope at the time, but the courage he called for is exactly the kind that only deepens with a longer life, since a long life has had more chances to learn what fear actually costs a person.

Fear shows up smaller in the later years than it did at twenty or forty, but it does not disappear. Fear of dependence, fear of being forgotten, fear of the conversation about final wishes that keeps getting postponed. Real conviction, the kind Paul is praying for, sometimes costs peace before it gives anything back, even now, even at this stage of a life that has already survived so much.

Name honestly, tonight, the one fear that has been quietly shaping your decisions lately. Ask what it would look like to be filled instead with the fullness Paul is praying for, even at the price of some discomfort.

The Luminous Mysteries tonight, since it is Thursday. Offer the first mystery, the Baptism of the Lord, through Saint John Paul II's intercession, for courage in whatever fear has been shaping your decisions lately.

• For the grace to be filled with God's fullness instead of fear, at any age, we pray to the Lord.
• Through Saint John Paul II's intercession, for courage in our own struggles, we pray to the Lord.
• For all who have died, that every fear they carried has given way to perfect peace, we pray to the Lord.

Have the conversation you have been postponing, about final wishes, about a fear, about anything left unsaid. Have it with one person today, even briefly.