Battling fears, worries, sadness

IT’S really a matter of faith, of how strong our faith is.

With faith, we know that whatever be our condition and situation in

life, God is always there and will never abandon us. He is there to

help us. He actually takes care of everything.

            It’s this faith that springs and strengthens our hope and

charity, which is the essence, purpose and fullness of our life. With

faith, we can manage to be at peace all the time, to experience joy

and awe even in the midst of our unavoidable earthly suffering, and to

go on and move on despite whatever.

            To battle our fears, worries and sadness, we need to

strengthen our faith and live it to the hilt. And let us allow it to

educate all our human powers and faculties—our intelligence and will,

our emotions and passions, our memory and imagination, etc. Let us

take time and learn the relevant skills to achieve this ideal.

            Let us remember that we are a composite of body and soul.

And since our soul is spiritual, it has its life and origin in the

Spirit of God himself. We need to develop our life following the ways

that would reinforce the unity of the composite parts of our life in

their proper order. We have to realize that our life is mainly

spiritual and supernatural, not simply material and natural.

            That way, we remove ourselves from being entirely

dependent on merely human, earthly and temporal factors. We allow

ourselves to be governed by a much powerful agency that can

effectively cruise us through our life’s ocean of mysteries. Faith

enables us to cope with the reality of our life that includes the

spiritual and the supernatural.

            With faith we will never feel alone. We will always feel

accompanied by God, by his angels and saints, all helping and

interceding for us. With faith, we know that everything that happens

to us, good or bad, has a reason and a purpose, and all of them

working for our own good. (cfr. Rom 8,28)

            We really have no reason to fear, nor to wallow in

worries, anxieties and sadness. Let’s remember that these unfortunate

states are fertile ground for the enemies of our soul, especially the

devil, to take advantage of us.

            About the only reason to fear, worry and be sad is when we

lose our faith, when we lose touch with God. We have to pray and pray

so that our doubts and fears would not undermine our faith.

            What also helps is to develop a sporting attitude in life,

because, to be realistic about it, we will always have frustrations,

disappointments, mistakes, failures, sins and defeats in our life. But

we just have to learn how to move on, just like a good sportsman.

            We should always be cheerful in life, and strive to show

it even externally with smiles and happy, warm and encouraging

dispositions. Even in our grief and mourning, we should manage to

learn how to be serene, knowing that suffering and death have already

been redeemed by Christ and are now endowed with redemptive power.

            Let’s not waste time and energy by falling into the grips

of fears, worries and sadness. When we notice that we are having some

languid moments, it can be a sign that our faith is not working, and

that we are succumbing to the laws of the flesh and the world, if not,

to the tricks of the devil.

            We have to extricate ourselves as quickly as possible from

that predicament. The ideal to have is to be always cheerful and eager

to do things, no matter what the cost involved.

            We should be doing a lot of good, constructive work,

rather than stuck in the mode of ruing and brooding, sinking in

self-pity, etc.