Have No Fear

Thanksgiving School Mass: Salesian Reflection
Robbie LeBlanc
St. Francis de Sales School, Class of 2025

Morning Knights! If you haven’t met me, I’m Robbie LeBlanc, and today I share with you a quote from St. Francis DeSales’ “Letters to Persons of Religion.” It reads: “Have no fear: He who has given you the will, He will give you the accomplishing.” (St. Francis DeSales. Letters to Persons in Religion, IV, 21)

I do a lot of performing arts, and in everything from Marching Band to Improv Club, fear is a constant factor. Being up on stage, there’s always a nagging feeling; “What happens if I screw this up? What will people say?” It can be so much worse with everyone recording too, I know some of my friends have some stunning voice cracks in their camera rolls from rehearsal.

But what I’ve noticed in my nearly four years here at St. Francis is that stage fright isn’t just about the stage. The fear of failure exists everywhere in our lives. How many of you have thought “I want to go out for that sport, but I might make a fool out of myself. What if all my friends make varsity and I’m alone on JV?” Even in class, many of us don’t raise our hands if we aren’t certain we’ll get the answer right. Getting that wrong is a failure, and fearing failure prevents us from trying even those small things.

There’s someone I knew who did the musical for the first time his senior year. After the show was over, we talked about how much he regretted waiting until his last chance. “I wish I had done it sooner,” he kept saying. “But I didn’t feel like the musical was cool, and I thought my friends would laugh and I didn’t want to get up in front of everyone and not do well.” The fear of what other people will say about the things we love is so limiting. Maybe they did laugh but it wasn’t them who stopped him from trying the show out, it was his fear of what the other people would say. What they’ll say about him participating, what they’ll say if we do a bad job. But his regret for waiting years to do it, when he loved it, was far worse than the fear he had dealt with.

St. Francis says God has given you the will. Those things you want to try, that look interesting or fun, but might not be easy or mainstream, the desire to try is that will. St. Francis also says that God will give you the accomplishing, if you use your God-given will, you can trust He will provide success. So, Francis says to “Have no fear.” Fear limits us. It prevents us from taking chances and from finding the things we love. Maybe we will fail. Maybe you miss a game-deciding shot or forget to go onstage for an entire scene. Those failures will happen. But the far greater failure is to never play at all. To find yourself sitting back, watching life go by you as the things you could love, and be great at, pass you by too.

So, I challenge you with this. Think of something that you love at arm's length. Something you’d love to do, but you just couldn’t possibly. It’s too hard, you’re not cut out for it, your friends would laugh. In other words, that thing you’re just a little too afraid of to try. Think of it. I challenge you to take that leap. Do it. Live fearlessly for a moment, and start something scary. As St. Francis says, “Have no fear.” Give yourself a chance to see the accomplishment living fearlessly can give you.