Choose a topic from Part 2A:

44. The Effects of Fear

1. Fear makes a person shrink into himself; it is a kind of contracting of the appetites.

2. Fear drives a man to seek advice and direction, for the dread of impending evil takes away self-confidence and self-reliance.

3. In the body, fear manifests itself by trembling, pallor, nervousness, and other types of agitation.

4. Unless fear be so great as to deprive a person, momentarily, of the use of reason, it does not remove the person's responsibility for his acts. Fear indeed may have effects which interfere with bodily action; trembling hands may be ineffective, quaking knees may not support the body. But fear, short of that which takes away reason, cannot directly affect the intellect and will. Indeed, a moderate fear is a stimulus to the mind.

"A person who rails at God in adversity, suffers without merit; moreover by his lack of resignation he adds to his punishment in the next life and experiences greater disquietude of mind in this life."
St Alphonsus de Liguori

* * *

"The more you know and the better you understand, the more severely will you be judged, unless your life is also the more holy. Do not be proud, therefore, because of your learning or skill. Rather, fear because of the talent given you."
Thomas á Kempis

* * *

"Those who love God are always happy, because their whole happiness is to fulfill, even in adversity, the will of God."
St Alphonsus de Liguori

* * *