Fear nothing when God is with you

June 5, 2021 • 3 min

From Letters to Persons in the World, page n328
By St. Francis de Sales

I beseech you for the honour of God, my child, be not afraid of God, for he does not wish to do you any harm: love him strongly, for he wishes to do you much good.

What can I say to stop this flow of thoughts in your heart? Do not give way to anxiety about healing it, for this anxiety makes it worse. Do not force yourself to conquer your temptations, for these efforts will strengthen them; despise them, do not occupy yourself with them.

Represent to your imagination Jesus Christ crucified, in your arms and on your breast, and say a hundred times, kissing his side; here is my hope, here is the living fountain of my happiness, this is the heart of my soul, the soul of my heart: never shall anything separate me from his love; I hold him, and will not let him go, till he has put me in a state of safety.

Say to him often: What have I upon earth, and what do I desire in heaven, but you, O my Jesus? You are the God of my heart and my portion for ever.¹ Why do you fear, my child? Hear our Lord, who cries to Abraham, and to you also: Fear not, I am thy helper. ² What do you seek upon earth, save God? and you have him. Remain firm in your resolution.

Keep yourself in the barque where I have placed you, and the storm may come; as Jesus lives you shall not perish: he will sleep, but in time and place he will awake to restore calm to you. Our St. Peter, says the Scripture, seeing the storm, which was very fierce, was afraid; and as soon as ever he became afraid, he began to sink and drown, at which he cried: O Lord, save me. ³ And our Lord took him by the hand, and said to him: Man of little faith, why didst thou doubt? Regard this holy Apostle, he walks dry foot on the waters; the waves and the wind could not make him sink, but the fear of the wind and the waves makes him perish if his master rescue him not.

Fear is a greater evil than the evil itself. O daughter of little faith, what do you fear? No, fear not; you walk on the sea, amid the winds and the waves, but it is with Jesus. What is there to fear? But if fear seizes you, cry loudly: O Lord, save me. He will give you his hand: clasp it tight, and go joyously on.

In short, do not philosophize about your trouble, do not turn in upon yourself, go straight on. No, God could not lose you, so long as you live in your resolution not to lose him. Let the world turn upside down, let everything be in darkness, in smoke, in uproar,—God is with us; and if God dwelleth in darkness, and on the Mount of Sinai, all smoking, and covered with the thunders, with lightnings and noises, shall we not be well near him?

^1. Ps. lxxii. 25.

^2. Gen. xv. 1.

^3. Matt. viii. 25.