Father David Kirk On Fear

Being Holy Week, I'll take a breather from the crazy events in the world and present some writings from Father David Kirk.

DO NOT BE AFRAID

"We live in difficult days. Reagan, Gorbachev. We're told to fear travel. To fear to walk anywhwer. To fear muggers and looters, autos and storms. To fear the Russians, the Communists, the Nicaraguans."

"Fear is a lifestyle; In New York City, we're like a knot of animals, threatened, surrounded. And it its said" only those who fear mightily and react violently will survive. Ethics of the shotgun. To give up all our fears is to give up our humanity. They say: fear guarantees survival. Put before us is the enemy. Bob Dylan: 'Making us think we have something to defeat.' "

"But to all this, through all this the Gospel maintains: 'There is no need to be afraid, my little community, for your Father is to give you the Kingdom.' A promis, nothing more, is the only thing we seem to have. Nothing else. Is that sufficient to help us survive, for us to hang on to, to make us motivated enough to continue?"

"For Abraham, it was. Because of such a promise Abraham left his home and went out and lived in a tent, looking for a city built by God. He never saw that city, he never arrived at it, his whole life was full of complications; even when he had a son, he was asked to sacrifice him to God. But he kept on because of his dream, because of that promise, because of that town, because of something he never fully saw realized in his life."

"Fear clogs. 'To he who is afraid everything rustles.' St. Maximos"

"Faith liberates. Cruelty and fear always walk together."

Father David Kirk (written in the 80's)

For more on Father David Kirk:

http://www.fatherdavidkirk.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_David_Kirk

http://emmaushouse-harlem.org/