The devil and anxiety

St Francis de Sales tells us that "anxiety is the greatest evil that can befall us, sin excepted... when we are troubled and restless we lose our power to maintain the virtue that we have acquired."

However the devil uses anxiety not merely to remove virtue from our souls-- this is his side entertainment.  What he is really after is our loss of faith and confidence in our Lord, for this makes our prayer impotent.  Our prayers are answered according to our faith; if our anxiety eliminates our confidence and faith in God, then the devil has succeeded in cutting us off from grace.  We must in moments of anxiety begin our prayer with a statement of confidence in God, for it is our faith that allows Him to act in us.  What is the power that maintains virtue? It is God's grace.  If we are no longer open to the grace, if our anxiety has caused us to no longer trust that He is Mercy and Love, we have lost our power.  Losing virtue is the result of impotence of anxious, faithless prayer.