Goodbye to Fears
Fernando Dangond, MD, was born in Colombia, South America. He and his wife, Monica, live in Weston, MA, and have been blessed with two sons Daniel and David and a beautiful daughter, Christina (the inspiration behind Build the Faith) who left to be with the Lord 6 years ago.
Dr. Dangond, is a neurologist and scientist who works for a pharmaceutical company developing medicines to treat devastating neurological diseases.
We arrive innocent at birth, into a wonderful and unfathomable world, which is full of unimaginable twists and turns. We are never prepared to confront everything, overcome everything, triumph over everything. We are meant to experience moments of happiness, love and joy, but also great sadness and disappointments. Gradually our happy innocence gives way to suspicion, resentment, and heartbreak. This is life on our beautiful, yet unpredictable planet Earth.
The uncertainty of not knowing our real purpose, not knowing our identity, not being able to prevent tragedies, and not knowing what each day that arrives holds for us, fills us with a permanent fear, a tenuous anguish. We are like a shark underwater, always wanting to come out, to intimidate or surprise. We then look for spears and nets to scare away that shark we call fear, but our efforts are in vain. Uncertainty is transparent, and as we look towards the waters, we glimpse time and again the shark lurking beneath the surface. But I have good news for you! That existential anguish that we all experience to different degrees can only be mitigated, smoothed, and dissolved, with the confidence in knowing that we are destined to be recognized as children of God.
“Even if I go through the darkest of valleys, I will not fear any danger. Your rod and your staff inspire confidence in me,” says King David in Psalm 23. A King who is powerful in deeds, but great in humility, recognizes his condition as a sheep of the flock of the Creator. This totally eliminates his fears. In the same way, Jesus urges us not to fear, by promising that upon resurrecting and ascending to heaven, he will then be able to send us the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, who will be our guide, our North, the rod and staff of the Great Shepherd to continue towards The Way, The Truth and The Life.
Can you imagine how different your life on earth would be if you existed every day without an ounce of fear? If every argument, conflict, misunderstanding or disturbance could be confronted with the greatest serenity possible, without stress, without anguish? When we seek the blessing of Jesus, we long for precisely that spiritual peace that cannot be described by the human mind, that peace with which the Holy Spirit floods us to guarantee us complete happiness here on earth.
When was the last time you invoked the Holy Spirit? When did you last open your heart to create that precious vessel to receive Him? Did you not do it because you didn’t think you were worthy? I invite you to daily invoke the presence of the Comforting Spirit of God in your life. You are worthy of receiving it as long as you declare that you are a beloved child of God. That Holy Spirit is the magnificent gift that Jesus left us, and it is our true identity, the true source of our happiness. If you carry it inside, it turns you into a being of light, a radiant lamp, to bring your neighbor out of darkness. Let us welcome the Holy Spirit and say goodbye to the dark valleys, to the fears of this world!
