Jesus’ revelations to Luisa Piccarreta are, among many other things, a full-frontal assault on fear.

This is not because Jesus is playing some sort of mind game with us, trying to trick us out of fear even when the facts indicate fear is the proper response. No, rather, it is because fear is not – ever – the proper response to what stands before us. Jesus tells Luisa:

“My Will excludes every fear … Therefore, banish every fear, if you do not want to displease Me.” (July 29, 1924)

“If you knew what it means to be looked upon by Me, you would no longer fear anything.” (December 25, 1927)

“My daughter, do not fear; fear is the scourge of the poor nothing, in such a way that the nothing which is beaten by the whips of fear, feels itself lacking life and losing it.” (October 12, 1930)

Fear is, essentially, a type of blasphemy: for when we willfully succumb to it, we are implicitly accusing God of not having a plan; accusing Him of lacking either Omnipotence or Goodness. (Fear as a mere emotion – a mere increase of heart rate, blood pressure, etc., however, is simply a feeling that is not under our direct control, and thus has no intrinsic  moral standing one way or the other; Jesus neither rebukes us nor praises us for mere feelings) 

Do you anticipate some task standing before you in the future which, upon now pondering, you shudder? Fear not. The grace to execute the task will come at the moment you must begin the execution. Jesus tells Luisa:

“Only in the act in which the creature sets herself to do what I want, then am I drawn to give her the strength necessary, or rather, superabundant—not before … How many, before doing an action, feel so helpless, but as soon as they set to work they feel invested by new strength, by new light. I am the One who invests them, as I never fail in providing the necessary strength that is needed in order to do some good.” (May 15, 1938)

Do you fear death itself, or the attacks of the demons that may exist at that moment, or the possibility of Hell (or at least Purgatory) after death? Banish those fears as well! Do not misunderstand: we must never be flippant, lax, or presumptuous; nor must we ever allow our Holy Fear to diminish (that is, the Seventh Gift of the Holy Spirit which is more like reverence and a dread at the thought of one we love being in pain because of our actions, and is not the type of fear I am here admonishing against) – but there is an infinite difference between fearing chastisements, death, hell, demons, and Purgatory and simply being zealous and serious regarding them. The latter is always our duty; the former is always a temptation.

Jesus tells Luisa:

“The devil is the most cowardly creature that can exist, and a contrary act, a contempt, a prayer, are enough to make him flee. … as soon as he sees the soul resolute in not wanting to pay attention to his cowardice, he flees terrified.” (March 25, 1908) Jesus also speaks the most consoling words imaginable to Luisa about the moment of death; so much so that anyone who realizes that these words are genuinely from Our Lord will, upon reading them, lose all fear of that moment. He told her: “[At the moment of death,] the walls fall down, and she can see with her own eyes what they had told her before. She sees her God and Father, Who has loved her with great love…My Goodness is such, wanting everyone to be saved, that I allow the falling of these walls when the creatures find themselves between life and death—at the moment in which the soul exits the body to enter eternity—so that they may make at least one act of contrition and of love for Me, recognizing my adorable Will over them. I can say that I give them one hour of truth, in order to rescue them. Oh! if all knew my industries of love, which I perform in the last moment of their lives, so that they might not escape from my hands, more than paternal—they would not wait for that moment, but they would love Me all their lives. (March 22, 1938)

Through Luisa, Jesus is also begging us not to fear Him:

“I feel sad when they think that I am severe, and that I make more use of Justice than of Mercy. They act with Me as if I were to strike them at each circumstance. Oh! how dishonored I feel by these ones. … by just taking a look at my life, they can but notice that I did only one act of Justice—when, in order to defend the house of my Father, I took the ropes and snapped them to the right and to the left, to drive out the profaners. Everything else, then, was all Mercy: Mercy my conception, my birth, my words, my works, my steps, the Blood I shed, my pains—everything in Me was merciful love. Yet, they fear Me, while they should fear themselves more than Me. (June 9, 1922)

How could you fear Him? He has been closer to you than your mother, closer to you than your spouse—for your entire life—and, for the rest of your life, He will remain closer to you than anyone, until the moment your body is called forth from the depths of the earth at the General Judgment. Nothing can separate you from the love of God. Do not fear Him. Jesus also says to Luisa:

“As soon as a baby is conceived, My Conception goes around the conception of the baby, to form him and keep him defended. And as he is born, My Birth places itself around the newborn, to go around him and give him the helps of My Birth, of My tears, of My wailings; and even My Breath goes around him to warm him. The newborn does not love Me, though unconsciously, and I Love him to folly; I Love his innocence, My Image in him, I Love what he must be. My Steps go around his first vacillating steps in order to strengthen them, and they continue to go around unto the last step of his life, to keep his steps safe within the round of My Steps … And I can say that even My Resurrection goes around his sepulcher, waiting for the propitious time in order to call, by the Empire of My Resurrection, his Resurrection of the body to Immortal Life.” (March 6, 1932)

So do not fear Jesus. Do no fear the devil. Do no fear death.

No Fear of the Looming Chastisements

Do not fear what is soon coming upon the world. Remember; Jesus is not playing mind games with us. He’s telling us not to fear because there is no cause for fear. And why, more specifically, is there no cause for fear? Because of His mother. Jesus tells Luisa:

And then, there is the Queen of Heaven who, with Her Empire, continuously prays that the Kingdom of the Divine Will come on earth, and when have We ever denied Her anything? For Us, Her Prayers are impetuous winds such that We cannot resist Her. … She will put to flight all the enemies. She will raise [her children] in Her Womb. She will hide them in Her Light, covering them with Her Love, nourishing them with Her own hands with the food of the Divine Will. What will this Mother and Queen not do in the midst of this, Her Kingdom, for Her children and for Her people? She will give Unheard-of Graces, Surprises never seen, Miracles that will shake Heaven and earth. We give Her the whole field free so that She will form for Us the Kingdom of Our Will on earth. (July 14, 1935)

You must know that I always love my children, my beloved creatures, I would turn Myself inside out so as not to see them struck; so much so, that in the gloomy times that are coming, I have placed them all in the hands of my Celestial Mother—to Her have I entrusted them, that She may keep them for Me under Her safe mantle. I will give Her all those whom She will want; even death will have no power over those who will be in the custody of my Mother.” Now, while He was saying this, my dear Jesus showed me, with facts, how the Sovereign Queen descended from Heaven with an unspeakable majesty, and a tenderness fully maternal; and She went around in the midst of creatures, throughout all nations, and She marked Her dear children and those who were not to be touched by the scourges. Whomever my Celestial Mother touched, the scourges had no power to touch those creatures. Sweet Jesus gave to His Mother the right to bring to safety whomever She pleased. (June 6, 1935)

How, dear soul, could you possibly succumb to fear, knowing these truths about your Heavenly Mother?

Finally, let us remember that this full frontal assault on fear that we find in Jesus’ revelations to Luisa is anything but some sort of Quietistic or Eastern teaching that admonishes us to extinguish ourselves and our passions – no, any admonition against a given vice in Jesus’ words to Luisa is always an admonition to ensure the opposite virtue is found flourishing in our souls! Therefore, as often as Jesus admonishes us against fear, He admonishes us to courage. Jesus tells Luisa:

“My daughter, don’t you know that discouragement kills souls more than all other vices? Therefore, courage, courage, because just as discouragement kills, courage revives, and is the most praiseworthy act that the soul can do, because while feeling discouraged, from that very discouragement she plucks up courage, undoes herself and hopes; and by undoing herself, she already finds herself redone in God.” (September 8, 1904)

“Who acquires a name, nobility, heroism?—a soldier who sacrifices himself, who exposes himself in battle, who lays down his life for love of the king, or another who stands arms akimbo [with arms hanging down at the waist]? Certainly the first one.” (October 29, 1907)

“Timidity represses Grace and hampers the soul. A timid soul will never be good at operating great things, either for God, or for her neighbor, or for herself…she always has her eyes fixed on herself, and on the effort she makes in order to walk. Timidity makes her keep her eyes low, never high…On the other hand, in one day a courageous soul does more than a timid one does in one year.” (February 12, 1908).

Knowing that the teachings above are indeed from Jesus Himself (if you are at all tempted to doubt that, see www.SunOfMyWill.com), I hope and pray that fear is henceforth eliminated from your life, and replaced with perennial peace, trust, and courage.