Fear And Prayer

In quacumque die invocavero te, exaudi me. Nullum diem justus quisque sine metu transigit: neque anxia semper erga se fides securi temporis otium recipit. Scit omnes dies plenos insidiarum sibi esse, diablolo atque angelis ejus excidium sibi semper molientibus. Scit diem illam Domini occultam, insperatam, et modo nocturni furis repentiam futuram. Ut igitur se in quacumque die invocantem exaudiat, deprecatur. Nec diffidit propheta quid in quacumque die exauditus obtineat. Sequitur enim: Multiplicabis me in anima mea in virtute tua. Per multam scilicet Dei curam multiplicabitur ipse in animae virtute: ne quid in se tribulationibus, ne quid terroribus pateat; sed cum tentationes ingruent, cum metus incidet, omnia multiplicata animae virtute tolerentur. Sanctus Hilarius Pictaviensis, Tractatus super Psalmos, Tractatus in Psalmum CXXXVII Source: Migne PL 9.789a-b

On whatever day I shall call on you, hear me. 1 No righteous man passes any day without fear, nor does he, ever anxious about his faith, receive the rest of secure times. He knows every day is full of snares for him, and that the devil and his angels are ever striving to ruin him. He knows that day of the Lord is hidden, unexpected, and suddenly what is to come will come like a thief in the night. 2 Therefore he prays that God hear him in whatever day he calls on Him. The prophet does not doubt that on the day he is heard he shall prevail. For it follows: 'You shall increase your virtue in my soul.' 1 By the great care of God virtue is increased in the soul, lest in his tribulations, lest among terrors, a man be exposed. But when trials threaten, when fears befall, with every virtue increased in his soul, he endures. Saint Hilary of Poitiers, Homilies on the Psalms, from Psalm 137 1 Ps 137.3 2 1 Thes 5.2