Albus Dumbledore is one of my favorite characters from the Harry Potter series. He was a man of great intellect and faith, but he was by no means perfect. He had flaws just like the rest of us which made him more likeable and relatable. One of his most popular quotes from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was, “we must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy”. It is pretty similar in the choice of having faith or living in fear. The question is, how do we choose faith over fear?

Knowledge

One word I would use to describe Dumbledore is wise, and with knowledge comes wisdom. You must have knowledge in faith as well. Know that faith will never steer you wrong or off course. It is also not as easy to hear faith as it is to hear fear.

When we allow ourselves to stop thinking is when we start to hear what fear has to say. It can dictate our lives – we stop traveling because we do not know a language, we stop going to the doctors in fear of bad news, and we stop being ourselves because we fear what others think of us. If we start to listen to ourselves, we will know that the best way to learn is to submerge yourself in a different culture, the best way to stay healthy is to visit the doctors regularly, and the only way to be confident is to be our true self.

Confidence

As you can probably tell, Harry Potter is one of my favorite book series. During the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry thought he saw his deceased father protect him with a patronus charm while trying to escape the dementors sucking out their souls. It turns out with a device called a time turner his friend has that it was future Harry protecting current Harry. What he thought was his father gave him the confidence to save everyone’s lives.

Confidence is a funny thing – sometimes it is a life-or-death situation you discover you have confidence, while at other times people exude it. We could be fearful, or we can stick up for ourselves, our family, and our friends and in what we believe in.

Belief

What is right and what is easy? Faith was given to us to guide us when we are most afraid – and helps to point us in the right direction. If we are fearful of something, then we often question why we feel this way.  It’s called a gut feeling for a reason, and we need to trust what our gut tells us.

Let’s all choose faith over fear. We exercise our strengths knowing we are never alone – God and our faith is always with us. Let’s trust we have the knowledge to help in any situation. We are able to portray confidence and the belief we are capable of anything if we try. We all have faith in our Catholic upbringing, so let’s continue to use that faith and leave the fear behind.