Unafraid to face the world’s end

That’s what Christ practically told the crowd as he described how the end of the world would be. (cfr. Lk 21,12-19) “They will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name,” he said.

But he told them not to worry or to prepare their defense beforehand. “I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute,” he assured them. He encouraged them just to hold on because, as he said, “by your perseverance you will secure your lives.”

In this regard, we need to learn how to avoid falling into fears and worries. And this, of course, is a matter of a strong faith. With faith, we know that whatever be our condition and situation in life, God is always around and will never abandon us. He is there to help us, since he actually takes care of everything.

It’s this faith that springs and strengthens our hope and charity, which is the essence, purpose, and fullness of our life. With faith, we can manage to be at peace all the time, to experience joy and awe even in the midst of our unavoidable earthly suffering, and to go on and move on despite whatever.

To battle our fears, worries and sadness, we need to strengthen our faith and live it to the hilt. And let us allow our faith to educate all our human powers and faculties --our intelligence and will, our emotions and passions, our memory and imagination, etc. Let us take time and learn the relevant skills to achieve this ideal.

Let us remember that 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 himself. 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.

Christ himself has told us that while troubles would unavoidably come our way in this life, we should not worry too much because he has overcome whatever troubles we may have. (cfr. Jn 16,33)

And so, let us assume the same thinking and reactions that St. Paul beautifully articulated when we are faced with all sorts of difficulties in life. At one time, he said, “If He (God) who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, along with him, freely give us all things.” (Rom 8,32)

Earlier, St. Paul said that “in all things, God works for the good of those who love him.” (Rom 8,28) And the Catechism reinforces this kind of reasoning of how good can be derived even from evil by teaching us that:

“…God in his almighty providence can bring a good from the consequences of an evil, even a moral evil, caused by his creatures: ‘It was not you,’ said Joseph to his brothers, ‘who sent me here, but God…You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive.’

“From the greatest moral evil ever committed—the rejection and murder of God’s only Son, caused by the sins of all men—God, by his grace that ‘abounded all the more,’ brought the greatest of good: the glorification of Christ and our redemption.” (CCC 312)

We should be unafraid to face the world’s end!