Advent Series–Fr Antony Jukes OFM—Courage! Do Not Be Afraid (read by Sr Monica Barlow) (In the incarnation—when God came down from heaven—the first problem God seeks to address is not the problem of sin, but the problem of fear, because one of the terrible consequences of sin is that we become afraid of God. The first words actually spoken in the Gospels are the words, “Do not be afraid”. When the angel of the Lord appeared to Zechariah in the Temple, when the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, asking her to be the mother of Jesus, when Joseph was concerned that Mary was already with child, and when the angel announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds in the field.)