Fear is the root of evil in the world, writes William Barry, SJ, in his book Spiritual Direction and the Encounter with God. Thus, real religion must have a real answer to fear. He quotes this wonderful aphorism from the theologian John Macmurray:
The maxim of illusory religion runs: “‘Fear not; trust in God and he will see that none of the things you fear will happen to you;” that of real religion, on the contrary, is “Fear not; the things that you are afraid of are quite likely to happen to you, but they are nothing to be afraid of.”
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