How to be brave

[Edwyn]

In the beginning of G.K. Chesterton’s Ballad of the White Horse, King Alfred the Great was defeated by the invading Danes, and subsequently hid in an island. While there, he had a vision of the Blessed Virgin, and he asked her if they could win against the invaders, or even if he and his men can enter Heaven after they die.

The Blessed Mother said:

      "The gates of heaven are lightly locked,
      We do not guard our gold,
      Men may uproot where worlds begin,
      Or read the name of the nameless sin;
      But if he fail or if he win
      To no good man is told.

      "The men of the East may spell the stars,
      And times and triumphs mark,
      But the men signed of the cross of Christ
      Go gaily in the dark.

      "The men of the East may search the scrolls
      For sure fates and fame,
      But the men that drink the blood of God
      Go singing to their shame.

      "The wise men know what wicked things
      Are written on the sky,
      They trim sad lamps, they touch sad strings,
      Hearing the heavy purple wings,
      Where the forgotten seraph kings
      Still plot how God shall die.

      "The wise men know all evil things
      Under the twisted trees,
      Where the perverse in pleasure pine
      And men are weary of green wine
      And sick of crimson seas.

      "But you and all the kind of Christ
      Are ignorant and brave,
      And you have wars you hardly win
      And souls you hardly save.

      "I tell you naught for your comfort,
      Yea, naught for your desire,
      Save that the sky grows darker yet
      And the sea rises higher.

      "Night shall be thrice night over you,
      And heaven an iron cope.
      Do you have joy without a cause,
      Yea, faith without a hope?"

Not in spite of, but because of these grim-sounding words, King Alfred found courage and strength, and he rallied the different chiefs of the land by repeating to them the Virgin’s words: “No more of comfort shall ye get / Save that the sky grows darker yet / And the sea rises higher,” and drove out the invading Danes.

So many are anxious today because of our seeming need to be certain about so many things, when actually the way to be brave is to accept, even embrace, our mundane uncertainty, and let God be God.

Jesus, King of Mercy, I trust in You.

 

[Edwyn]

The Drunken Monkey is that fearful mind, that fearful way of thinking, that when it gets activated, when it gets going it starts spewing out all sorts of self-talk. I need to fix this now, you better do this, what happens if this happens? Why did you do that or what did I do that? How can I possibly handle this particular situation? And so what it essentially happened to me was I had gotten hijacked by the Drunken Monkey…

One of the things that the Drunken Monkey likes: simplicity, clarity and certainty. Simplicity, clarity and certainty. There’s that part of our program that likes to have everything boil down to something that we can grab onto and phase absolutely and positively true.

Clarity is cured by faith: the world seems at times chaotic, crazy and frightening, but we must always believe that there is a God who we cannot sense but nevertheless loves and cares for us, and is nearer to us than we are to ourselves.

Certainty is cured by hope: we can never be certain how God will help us in our difficulties, but we must believe He will in His own time, in His own way, in His own place.

Simplicity is cured by love: we must not use simplistic labels on ourselves, God, and others, but make the effort to truly know them.

 

[Casilda]

The world is a better place filled with those who are faithful, hopeful and loving. Thank you Edwyn.

 

[joeybaggz]

Simple thought, “Courage (bravery) isn’t the absence of fear, it is the conquest of it.” Or as John Wayne once said, “courage is being scared to death, and saddling up anyway…”

 

[0Scarlett_nidiyilii]

Feel the fear and do it anyway

 

[Edwyn]

Or another way to think of courage is actually forget about courage and just focus on what other virtue/s God wants you to do.

Sometimes telling yourself “I need to be strong, I need to be brave!” just actually makes the fear worse because you give attention to it.

As C. S. Lewis said, “Courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality.”