How Can We Overcome Fear?

He became like us - in all things but sin (see, Hebrews 4:15) - so that we can become like Him. In Him, we stand in a relationship with the Father, in the Holy Spirit. This is more than piety, it is our new reality! Jesus understands our fears because in His sacred humanity He experienced them. He also enables us to overcome them. He removes the root and source of fear for those who choose to trust in Him.

Unable to overcome fear by our own effort, we are often overcome by it. Though we may develop coping mechanisms over time, or learn to hide the interior reactions caused by fear, inside, it can paralyze us and impede us from living our lives to the full. The Bible is filled with admonitions against this kind of useless fear. Yet, the admonitions alone will not help us to overcome it. Only something stronger than fear- with the capacity to change us inside - can liberate us from its chains. That something is Some One; the one who understands all of our fears and has opened the way to overcoming them through and in the embrace of His Redemptive Love. That some-One is Jesus Christ.

CHESAPEAKE, VA (Catholic Online) - Many of the people I care deeply about - in my immediate family, extended family, circle of friends and parish - are in crisis. Additionally, there just seems to be a cloud of of fear hovering over the hearts and minds of many.

It seems no matter where you look, listen or read in the media, nationally, and internationally, you find crisis. In response to it all I offer the following reflection on overcoming fear through trust. I begin with two simple passages from the Bible.

"Fear is useless; what is needed is trust." ( Luke 8:50, Mark 5:36)

"Now since the children share in blood and flesh, he likewise shared in them, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who through fear of death had been subject to slavery all their life" - Heb 2:14-15

Have you had the experience of awakening from a dream, paralyzed with fear, unable to speak or perhaps even move? Many people have. Some tell us such dreams can be the result of stress or worry over circumstances in our lives.

Knowing that may assist us in better understanding our overreaction, but I am not sure that it helps alleviate the effects of useless fear.

Let's face it; life can throw us its share of challenges, difficulties, and struggles that can be frightening and cause us to respond like we do in those terrible dreams. Though we may be able to physically move in real life, we all too often live as though fear has the upper hand. We sleep-walk.

Unable to overcome fear by our own effort, we are often overcome by it. Though we may develop coping mechanisms over time, or learn to hide the interior reactions caused by fear, inside, it can paralyze us and impede us from living our lives to the full.

The Bible is filled with admonitions against this kind of useless fear. Yet, the admonitions alone will not help us to overcome it.

Only something stronger than fear- with the capacity to change us inside - can liberate us from its chains. That something is Some One; the one who understands all of our fears and has opened the way to overcoming them through and in the embrace of His Redemptive Love.

That some-One - is Jesus Christ.

He became like us - in all things but sin (see, Hebrews 4:15) - so that we can become like Him. In Him, we stand in a relationship with the Father, in the Holy Spirit. This is more than piety, it is our new reality!

Jesus understands our fears because in His sacred humanity He experienced them. He also enables us to overcome them. He removes the root and source of fear for those who choose to trust in Him.

Most fear is rooted in a lack of trust in God's love. We fear that we will lose our health. We fear that we will not have enough money. We fear that we will fail at a job or career or on an exam. We fear that we will not be accepted. Then, as some grow older and have children, we fear the same things for each one of them.

Perhaps we are no longer as crippled by our fears as we were when we were younger, but they still lurk in the background, robbing our freedom and preventing our human flourishing. They harm our relationships and can impede our growth.

We can be set free!

All of our useless fears find a common root in the fear of death which can lead to the living slavery spoken of in the Letter to the Hebrews with which I began this piece.

The Good News (that is what the word Gospel means) is that fear is useless!

Fear need no longer have any power over us if we choose to really choose to trust in the Lord, and allow his gift, we call it grace, to permeate our daily lives. All useless human fears can be overcome. They can be dispelled in the light of a vibrant and growing faith.

The fear over ill health does little to change it. We are called to live as stewards of the wonderful gift entrusted to us in our whole person, body, soul and spirit. However, the reality is that sickness and age will affect every one of us.

The difference is how we choose to respond.

Some of the happiest people I have ever known are those who, in the midst of sickness or declining health, have trusted the Lord. They walk in a deep and abiding relationship with Him and receive the grace to join their suffering with His, becoming transformed in the process.

Then there is failure or setbacks in our careers, or even the obligatory tasks of our day to day lives. Let's face it; we will fail, at least in the eyes of some who do not have the eyes to see deeper truths.

The beauty of living by faith, of walking in trust, is that we discover that in the classroom of our lives, it is our failures that become our greatest teachers on the road to conversion and transformation.

The truly successful people I know are those who were educated in the school of failure. They have learned to trust in the Lord. In Him, failure is transformed by faith into the triumph of holiness.

Then, there is death, that "last enemy", the root and source of every other fear. For those who trust in the Lord, death has been defeated by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in Corinth "Death is swallowed up in victory. Where, O death is your victory? Where, O death is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ"

When we trust in the Lord, death loses its "sting" in our own lives as well. No longer an enemy it becomes a change of lodging. Paul wrote in that same letter:

"But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead came also through a human being.

"For just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life, but each one in proper order: Christ the first fruits; then, at his coming, those who belong to Christ; then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to his God and Father, when he has destroyed every sovereignty and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death."(1 Corinthians 15:7-26)

"Fear is useless, what is needed is trust". Jesus still speaks these words, to you and to me.

Let's choose today to hear His words - and choose to walk in living faith and trust. As we do, daily and even hourly, we learn to overcome fear.Grace shines its light on our path and we awaken from our sleep.

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Deacon Keith Fournier is Founder and Chairman of Common Good Foundation and Common Good Alliance. A married Roman Catholic Deacon of the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia, he and his wife Laurine have five grown children and six grandchildren, He serves as the Director of Adult Faith Formation at St. Stephen, Martyr Parish in Chesapeake, VA. He is also a human rights lawyer and public policy advocate.

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