THE Gospel stories surrounding the birth of Jesus are not verbal photographs. They do not describe the events with precise factual accuracy. That is not their purpose. They intend rather to convey the significance of what took place.

For example, we do not know what actually happened when Mary discovered that she was pregnant. All we have is the scene from St Luke’s Gospel where the Angel Gabriel announces to her that she is to become the mother of the Son of God through the power of the Holy Spirit. The passage has many layers and is rich in echo, allusion and symbol.

Whatever may have happened, however, one phrase most surely rings true. When Mary discovered her condition, she must have been terrified. But, we are told: “The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary’.” She will have needed that reassurance.

Do not be afraid: those words recur in the Bible time and again. Indeed we hear them 365 times, as many times as there are days in the year. So the consoling command to Mary needs to be heard as issued also to us, to be integrated into our lives and obeyed daily. But that is not easy. Fear can take many forms.

We may be frightened of losing those we love and the loneliness that will follow, of professional failure, of poverty and sickness, of old age and death. Those fears are more personal and immediate. We may be frightened by war and violence in society, or by the threat of Aids and avian flu, or by the consequences of global warming. Fear can take so many forms. Who would not be frightened? Is the angel’s command simply beyond us? We need to make a careful distinction.

The angel did not say: “Do not feel afraid.” It is normal to feel fear. Indeed, it has been the strategy of dictators through the ages to stir fear in people, to make them feel so frightened that they become paralysed by it. Then they control them. Think of Hitler’s use of anti-Semitism, of Stalin’s purges, and even this year of President Robert Mugabe’s Operation Restore Order, a policy so devastating that it is known popularly as “Operation Tsunami” because of its speed and ferocity and the disruption it caused. The angel, however, did not say “Do not feel afraid”, but “Do not be afraid”.

I have suggested that Mary may well have been terrified when she became aware of her condition and her calling. And as her story unfolds in the Gospels, she must have experienced fear on many occasions — for example, when the old man, Simeon, warned her about the sword that would pierce her soul; when she fled with her baby son into Egypt under threat from King Herod; when she spent three days searching for Him before finding Him in the Temple when He was only 12 years old; and then much later when He was crucified. Mary knew fear, but she had also taken Gabriel’s words to heart: standing beside the cross, she was not afraid. We must try to follow her example.

We must take care not to be defined by our feelings. At times of crisis it is natural to feel alarmed, to be worried, frightened. Will that fear mould us and dominate us? If it does, we will be cowards. Or will we master it?

There is no shame in feeling fear. We sometimes confuse matters by calling brave people fearless, but someone who is truly without fear, who does not know what fear is, is incapable of courage. Courage begins by conquering fear. It is not a feeling, but a decision made in spite of fear which gives our lives their character.

When Mary’s son was born, the angel’s words were repeated to some shepherds: “Do not be afraid.” We may hear them as spoken also to us. The Child brings us good news, and like the shepherds, however alarm- ed we may feel at first, there is no need to be afraid. Let us ask instead to become instruments of the peace that Child proclaims.

Happy Christmas. Peace on earth to everyone of good will.

Monsignor Roderick Strange is the Rector of the Pontifical Beda College, Rome.