Condensed from Angele Reigner’s talk at Lift Jesus Higher 2023.
In 2018, my archbishop encouraged me to organize a pilgrimage that brought the relic arm of St. Francis Xavier to Canada. We wanted to proclaim the Gospel. I said to the attendees, “Venerate St. Francis Xavier, but he wants you to know Jesus. That’s why he went to the ends of the earth. That’s why this arm baptized hundreds of thousands of people.”
Today, I want to share what was happening in my own life before and during the pilgrimage. That pilgrimage was wonder, awe, and fear. I’d never done anything like that before. In a brief amount of time, I pulled together logistics for about 40 venues in 17 cities across Canada in a month.
Then, my archbishop decided I should also go on the pilgrimage and be the main spokesperson. When I received my media training, they said that reporters might use the pilgrimage as a reason to ask me about anything happening in the Catholic Church. I felt like a lamb being led to the slaughter. I sat in the archbishop’s office crying, and he spoke these words: “Faith over fear.”
Scripture was the only thing that consoled me during that time. Zechariah 8:20-23 talks about the multitudes that would gather, and elsewhere, Scripture described angels surrounding and protecting the Lord of hosts. Two of my fears were that people wouldn’t come and security issues and the Lord said there would be a lot of people and a lot of angels.
As you deal with your own fears, know that the living and active sword is there for you! The Lord will give you a Scripture verse for your situation. It’s the living Word of God. It’s always speaking, and there are always new treasures to be found.
The enemy likes it when we are afraid. But the Lord loves the weak, the small, the old, the frail, and the young. When Jesus felt weak, He pulled out his sword—He quoted Scripture. Even a weak, small person can quote Scripture. I’m not that clever or eloquent, but I can read the Bible, the living Word of God, which penetrates bone and marrow.
Scripture as a sword doesn’t have to always be like, “Boom!” It is the Word of God, and his voice is love. “Perfect love casts out fear” (1 Jn 4:18). If all that happens in your prayer time is that Jesus loves you, isn’t that the point of the Christian life? Isn’t that what takes away some of the zing when fearful things come? So, let’s not be weak in Scripture. Let’s love it and read it. Let’s allow the Lord to love us in it so that we can conquer fear.
