My Dear Brethren: The two great obstacles to the service of God, which come from ourselves, are sluggishness and cowardice. We are beset with temptations, harassed by passions, and subject to sin; but, more than these, love of ease and cowardice take possession of our hearts. We are tempted to doubt whether we can free ourselves from our difficulties; we forget the words of the Apostle: "This is the will of God, your sanctification." Since, then, my dear brethren, God wills our sanctification, we too should will it, for God is ready to bestow upon us the means to attain it. So that far from being discouraged by the evils that surround us, and the spiritual difficulties under which we labor, we ought rather turn to God full of courage, having confidence in His promise that He will not deny us the grace necessary for us to obtain eternal life.

And so our Lord addresses to each one of us the words of this day's Gospel: "Arise, and fear not," words which show what ought to be our part, our attitude in the work of salvation. To each one of us He says: "Arise!" Arise from the dominion of your passions! Cast off the works of darkness! Throw off your self-imposed shackles of cowardice and fear! Be vigilant! Be free! Be what your baptism demands of you--children of God, co-operating with His grace in the work of your salvation. Do you not remember the days of your innocence? Were they not happy days? Have you found in the pursuit of sin and the gratification of your passions the peace which you enjoyed in the days in which you served God? No! There is no peace for the wicked; there is no peace for the sin-burdened conscience; peace is only through the Holy Spirit. Peace is His fruit--peace with ourselves and peace with God.

All the things of earth are as nothing compared with the peace of a good conscience. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our souls is a foretaste of the life of glory hereafter. We may lose riches, we may suffer dishonor, men may deprive us of our possessions and our good name, but they cannot rob us of God's holy Spirit. Him we may possess without fear of loss unless we ourselves are guilty of infidelity to His voice. Courage, then, for God is with us! And if God be with us, why should we fear? For who is God? Who is there like to God? Is there any in heaven, or on earth, or under the earth, that can stand against His almighty power? Whom do we fear? Is it Satan? Long ages ago God's holy angel overcame him. Is it the world? Our Lord tells us: "I have overcome the world." Is it ourselves? Are we then such slaves to our passions that we can no longer exercise our reason, no longer make use of God's grace? Surely, things are not so bad with us as this! We can overcome our passions, we must overcome them. God's grace will not be denied us. We should "arise, and fear not," we should have courage, we should trust God. And conquer we shall if we but use the means that God in His mercy has put at our disposal. We shall conquer if we turn to the fountain of grace and drink deeply of its waters. If, in other words,, we are constant in prayer and the use of the sacraments.

These are the arms with which God designs that we should fight! These are the arms which He has blessed! These are the arms on which He has impressed the sign of His almighty power. Armed with these and confident in Him who gave them to us, victory shall be ours. Arise, then, my dear brethren, and cast off fear! Put on the armor of light and follow after the banner of our Lord. He has gone before showing the way; we have but to follow. He fought the fight. He overcame the world, the flesh, the devil. So, too, may we if we are faithful followers in the way of the Cross. If we earnestly study the life of our Lord and are watchful for the breathing of the Holy Spirit, "Who breatheth where He will," we we shall find'the yoke sweet and the burden light. "Arise, and fear not."

Eternal Father, I humbly adore and thank Thee for having created me, and for having redeemed me by means of Jesus Christ. I thank Thee for having made me a Christian by giving me the true faith, and by adopting me for Thy child in holy Baptism. I thank Thee for having given me time for repentance after my many sins, and for having, as I hope, pardoned all my offenses against Thee. O Infinite Goodness! I thank Thee also for having preserved me from falling again as often as I should have done if Thou hadst not held me up and saved me. But my enemies do not cease to fight against me, nor will they until death, that they may again have me for their slave; If Thou dost not keep and help me continually by Thine assistance, I shall be wretched enough to lose Thy grace anew. I therefore pray Thee, for the love of Jesus Christ, to grant me holy perseverance till death. Thy Son Jesus has promised that Thou wilt grant us whatever we ask for in His name. By the merits, then of Jesus Christ, I beg of Thee for myself, and for all those who are in Thy grace, the grace of never more being separated from Thy love, but that we may always love Thee in this life and in the next.