Battling fears, worries, sadness

By: Fr. Roy Cimagala

IT’S REALLY a matter of faith, of how strong our faith is. With faith, we know that whatever 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. With faith, we can be at peace all the time, experience joy and awe even in the midst of suffering, and move on despite whatever.

To battle our fears, worries, and sadness, we need to strengthen our faith and live it to the hilt. Let’s allow it to educate all our human powers and faculties. Let us take time and learn the relevant skills to achieve this ideal.

Remember 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. 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, including the spiritual and supernatural.

With faith we will never feel alone. We will always feel accompanied by God, the angels and saints, all helping and interceding for us. With faith, we know that everything that happens to us has a reason and purpose, all of them working for our own good. (cfr. Rom 8,28)

We really have no reason to fear or 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.

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 so our doubts and fears won’t 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, and defeats. 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 in our grief and mourning, we should 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 we are having some languid moments, it can be a sign our faith isn’t working, that we are succumbing to the laws of the flesh and the world, if not 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.

We should be doing a lot of good, constructive work, rather than be stuck in the mode of ruing and brooding, sinking in self-pity, etc.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com