Our Source of Comfort

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for
You are with me; Your rod and Your staff—they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4)

Imagine the lad David watching over his father’s sheep, aware of their total reliance on him. They somehow realized that with his staff, the long pole with a crook on top that he carried in one hand to move them along and to reach out and catch them if they should slip into a precipice, and the stout club in the other with which he beat off predators, they were safe in his care. The shepherd boy filled with confidence in the Lord Almighty recognized the parallel relationship. Just as his sheep were secure in his care, so he felt the constant protection of God, the ultimate Shepherd. Not even when facing death would he be afraid, because the Lord was ever near to protect him from straying from His presence, just as He would ward off every enemy and provide David with security.

Traveling through Europe and the Near East, I have been made aware of the intensive security measures on highways, shopping centers and especially in airports. Guards are ubiquitous. They brandish small arms at their waists and hold Uzi and other submachine guns at the ready. They wear bulletproof jackets for their own protection. I recalled the alarm of so many persons in the year 1999 as they waited some unknown occurrence that they felt the turn of the millennium would bring about. They stored gallons of water in their basements. They packed away battery-powered lamps, foodstuffs, blankets, even toilet paper in anticipation of a nebulous disaster that was impossible to define or even to anticipate. At least as they imagined.

Disaster did come about—but not from outer space. And not on New Year’s Day 2000, or even 2001. Yet September eleventh did change the lives of us Americans. What are we to do? Our public officials advise us to go about our normal lives, but to be cautious. What caution means exactly is not further explained. Don’t panic, they tell us, or that will only give a victory to the terrorists. They have given us a color-coded alert system that few understand and even less obey, even if they want to do so. The middle of the last century was called The Age of Anxiety. And that was because so many people were afflicted with personality disorders. The label defines our time more precisely. A score of assassins with some flying lessons, and like Satan himself, ample time and fertile imagination, transfigured the new millennium.

The question demands to be answered: How are we to get on with our lives, maintaining the joyful, faithful and optimistic attitude of David the shepherd boy? How are we to prepare for confronting the Goliath of our era filled with confident trust in God? It can only be done by placing our lives in the hands of the One who said: “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” And, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you: Not as the world gives, do I give to you.” It means that we have imbibed the Spirit of St. Paul: “The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6)

The Christian attitude is one of supreme confidence that God’s plan is being carried out in our lives and in our time. It has no place for fatalism, pessimism or fear. That would be a capitulation. We are baptized. We are all agents of Him who came to transform the world from ignorance and fatalism, the earmarks of the Muslim terrorists on one extreme, and the hedonist egocentrism, self-indulgence and atheism so evident in many parts of our nation, gobbling up all the creature comforts of life before they die.