these clubs of optimists may be a desideratum, but it is not a necessity to a practical Catholic; for there can be no doubt that the best "don't-worry club" in the world is the Catholic Church, because she directs her members to lead a pure and holy life, to do their duty, to rejoice in the Lord always, and to preserve their peace of soul by a simple, childlike confidence in the providence of Our Father in heaven, in accordance with the words of St. Paul: "We know that to them that love God all things work together unto good" (Rom. viii. 28).
"Happy is the man," says the dear St. Francis of Assisi, "who does not worry, nor grieve himself, about anything in this world, but leads a holy life, without any inordinate attachment, and abandons himself cheerfully to the will of God."
St. Francis of Sales, knowing that all the accidents of life, without exception, happen by the order of Providence, reposed in Him with the greatest tranquillity, like a child on the bosom of its mother. This gentle saint was filled with so great a confidence in God that in the midst of the greatest disasters nothing could disturb the peace of his soul. "I can not but be persuaded," he often said, "that he who believes in an infinite Providence, which extends even to the lowest worm, must expect good from all that happens to him."
In the same spirit, St. Vincent de Paul exhorts us:
"Let us place our confidence in God and establish ourselves in an entire dependence on Him. Then fear not what men may say or do against us, all will turn to our advantage. Yes, if all the earth should rise up against us, nothing will happen but as God pleases, in whom we have established our hopes."
Says the author of the "Spiritual Combat": "Nothing is impossible to God, since His power is infinite.
