“Do not be afraid of what may happen to you” (Inner Word).
It is not for nothing that Sacred Scripture repeatedly exhorts us not to be intimidated by anything or anyone. The enemy of the human race takes advantage of our fears and tries to increase them until they dominate us. In the African world we know the saying: “Fear devours the soul”. And so it is!
The right answer is neither recklessness nor false self-confidence, but deep trust in the presence of our Father. Somehow it is necessary to train oneself in this attitude. Whenever fears arise in us, whenever we feel threatened in one way or another, whenever we are beset by vague presentiments, we must call upon the Holy Spirit.
The rationalization of the situation – which fears often present to us in an exaggerated way – is not always sufficient to eliminate the sources from which fear springs. Renewed trust in the presence of our Father, on the other hand, will always help us. A simple dialog with Him, exposing our fears to Him, will be able to extract the “poison” from them. In this way, the soul focuses on the Father and not on what really or supposedly threatens it.
This does not only apply to the concrete moment in which we live. The words of today’s meditation assure us that we can also have this certainty in the face of the future, whose complexity we do not know. But for us, believers, whatever happens, comes from God’s wise providence, which embraces everything, including real dangers. Under the influence of the Holy Spirit, we can learn not to fear the future, but to face it with confidence, knowing that we are protected by God’s love and secure in the guidance of the Holy Spirit.