“Take courage.” // Matthew 14:27

1: Vow before God and your women’s prayer group that you will not allow fear to rob you of one more precious moment of your life.

2: Give thanks for the more than 20,000 days you have lived a full and meaningful life already.

3: Take your 90-year-old Mom to the gardening center and buy an abundance of annuals. Plant them at the feet of a statue of the Blessed Mother at your local parish.

4: Visit the recently widowed neighbor down the street and listen reverently and attentively as she speaks about missing her husband of 64 years. Consider that your holy hour for the day.

5: Make your husband’s favorite mushroom risotto on a Monday night just because.

6: Find ways to lighten the mood over dinner. Silly jokes and a glass or two of wine might help.

7: Write your Blessed is She devotion, reminding your beloved sister in Christ that the very same Jesus who, in today’s Gospel Reading, walked on water, reassured the frightened apostles, caught Peter when he began to sink, calmed the sea, and healed all those that were brought to Him—that same Lord is walking on the water of her troubled sea, approaching her with peace, calm, all healing, all power. And that whatever comes, He is there with her in the midst of it, and there is nothing to fear—not even cancer, suffering, and death—because this same Christ has conquered these and will dress them in His glory for all eternity.

My dear sister, are you waiting for news, an answer, relief from something difficult? Is your life a stormy sea, full of threats and fear? Make a robust and creative list of all the things you can do instead of being afraid, work through the list, and as you do, imagine the Lord of all creation walking toward you, with you. Take courage, the courage of Jesus, and do not let fear have what belongs to the Lord.