Jesus said to His apostles: "No disciple is above his teacher, no slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he becomes like his teacher, for the slave that he becomes like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more those of his household!
"Therefore, do not be afraid of them. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but can not kill the soul; rather be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father's knowledge. Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid, you are worth more than many sparrows. Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father."
The Gospel of the Lord.
Do not be afraid was the theme of the homily given by John Paul II on his installation to the Papacy. When you look up the phrase "Do not be afraid . . ." and the name John Paul II on the Internet, the first reference is to the Vatican site to his pontificate. The site is a picture of a path up a mountain with the words "Do not be afraid", the name Joannus Paulus II, and the 26+ years of his papacy from 1978 to 2005 shown as path with John Paul II starting his journey in 1978, the path winding up the mountain and ending in 2005 at the top where there is an empty cross.
1979 first trip to Poland where he said simply "Do not be afraid."
1981 shot twice by Mehmet Agca forgiven in 1983 visit to his jail cell
stared down communism in his homeland and won
Gorbachev: the fall of the iron curtain (11/1989) would have been impossible without John Paul II
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