We are being continually attacked by the devil and by the Marxists.[1]   For this reason, many Catholics are scared.

 

Further, we know that the end never justifies the means.[2]  A perfect, current example of the application of this principle is in the context of the leftists manifesting their alarm at the prospect of women (at least in some places in the U.S.) being unable to murder their unborn babies (so-called “reproductive rights”), if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.  It is obvious that a Catholic could never make it appear that he agrees with those who bemoan the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

As Our Lord told us:

Every one that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven.  But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.  Do not think that I came to send peace upon earth:  I came not to send peace, but the sword.

St. Matthew’s Gospel, 10:32-34.

But many Catholics are scared to stand up for the truth in the face of the opposition that they know they will encounter.  However, as always, and in everything, our Catholic Faith has the answer – and also is our comfort. 

After the Last Supper, Our Lord told His apostles that He would soon be killed and that they were about to abandon Him.  In their own weakness, they were afraid and dismayed at the opposition they would encounter.  He told them, “Let not your heart be troubled”.  St. John’s Gospel, 14:1. 

In this same tender discourse, Our Lord gave them the solution to their fear, viz., the Catholic Faith.  His very next words were: “You believe in God, believe also in Me.”  St. John’s Gospel, 14:1.  Our Lord assured his apostles (and He assures us): “have confidence, I have overcome the world.”[3] 

Here is how St. Cyril of Alexandria, Doctor of the Church, teaches this truth using military terms in order to call to mind that we are soldiers of Christ in the Church Militant:

Faith, therefore, is a weapon whose blade is stout and broad, that drives away all cowardice that might spring from expectation of coming suffering, and that renders the darts of evil-doers utterly void of effect and utterly profitless of success in their temptations.[4]

Our Lord responds in the same way to us as He did to His apostles, when we are afraid or dismayed at how His enemies also oppose us.  We are certain that when we live the way that we should (viz., knowing, loving, and serving God), then nothing can truly hurt us and there is nothing to fear.  Even our crosses are for our good!  As St. Paul exclaimed: since “God be for us, who is against us?”[5]  What a source of confidence and peace this is!

Being on Christ’s side, we are on the side that has already won the war against the powers of darkness.[6]  We can’t lose and we know that everything will go in our favor.  We know by Faith that “all things work together for the Good for those who love God.”  Romans, 8:28.

Thus, we should be of good heart!  This truth is what St. Paul calls the “shield of Faith”[7].  In other words, the Catholic Faith shields us from the fears of our times.  This is the consolation of the Catholic Faith, i.e., as St. Paul put it, “the comfort of the Scriptures”: 

For what things soever were written, were written for our learning: that through patience and the comfort of the Scriptures, we might have hope.

Romans, 15:4.

Thus, to the extent we are scared, it is because we have weak Faith.  St. Cyril tells us how to remedy our fears, viz., that the increase of our Faith “drives away all cowardice”.  We should continually strive to increase our Faith as a remedy for this fear we have. 

Just as the virtue of patience is strengthened and increased by repeated actions of patience, so also, the virtue of Faith is strengthened and increased by repeated actions of Faith.  Of course, praying for greater Faith is important, but we must also perform actions of this virtue. 

So, for example, it is an action of the Catholic Faith that we refuse the mortally sinful Covid “vaccine”.[8]  Refusing the COVID “vaccine” – this action of Faith – is required under pain of grave sin.  However, there are many other opportunities to increase our Faith by actions of this virtue – such as making a Sign of the Cross in public and praying our meal prayer without fear, when we are about to eat with co-workers.

Let us always strive to strengthen our Faith through frequent actions of this virtue!  As our Faith gets stronger, it “drives away all cowardice”, as St. Cyril assures us.  That stronger Faith pleases God and He richly rewards it.

Therefore, let us go onward to the battle, with stout hearts on fire for God, knowing that “if Christ be for us, who can be against us”!

We are soldiers fighting together, side-by-side, in the “trenches” of the Church Militant.  Let us not only fight fearlessly for Christ the King, but also let us give great moral support and encouragement to our fellow soldiers who are timid, wavering, and fearful!