THE GIFT OF FEAR OF THE LORD


FRIDAY, SEVENTH WEEK OF EASTERTIDE   

Acts 25:13-21; Ps 103:1-2,11-12,19-20; Jn 17:20-26

The Spirit of Fear of the Lord

The Holy Spirit also gives us the fear of the Lord as a gift. As Saint Paul wrote, we have not received a spirit of fear or timidity, but the Spirit that helps us cry ‘Abba, Father.’ Cf. Rom 8:15. The new birth we received from the Holy Spirit through our Lord Jesus Christ is the life of the Son of God, within us. So, our new spirit is able to call God Father, because it is begotten of God the Father and the means of our adoption as children of God. Through this new spirit, tutored and guided by the Holy Spirit, we develop a filial and reverential fear of God. Hence, the gift of the fear of the Lord is another spiritual support received from the Holy Spirit, aiding our transformation into Jesus Christ. We must never understand the fear here in the common usage of the word to mean being afraid or terrorised by another. The fear of the Lord flows out of love for God and the strong desire to do his holy and immutable will in all things and in every situation. The perfection of this fear was in the Son of Man, who made the doing of his Father’s will his daily food. The reception of this great spiritual gift and its development within us would make us desire to know and accomplish God's will. It would correspond to the beatitude of those who hunger and thirst for righteousness; for righteousness is the result of doing the will of God.

The gift of fear of the Lord makes a devout soul into an obedient and humble servant of God. The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are all interrelated and work together for our perfection in spiritual life. Saint Paul offers us an excellent example. As the Lord appeared to him and directed him to be a witness of his Gospel in Rome, he willingly and eagerly appealed to Ceaser for the trial of his case when he appeared before Festus. “Not feeling qualified to deal with questions of this sort, I asked him if he would be willing to go to Jerusalem to be tried there on this issue. But Paul put in an appeal for his case to be reserved for the judgment of the august emperor, so I ordered him to be remanded until I could send him to Caesar.” Paul did not consider the inconvenience of going to Rome, the capital city of the Roman Empire, but was simply interested in preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Rome, as directed by the Lord. This is genuinely the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is a means for the redeemed soul to pour forth in praise and adoration of God for the wonderful gift of redemption. The psalmist captures this deep sentiment. “My soul, give thanks to the Lord all my being, bless his holy name. My soul, give thanks to the Lord and never forget all his blessings. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so strong is his love for those who fear him.” This spiritual fear is born of deep love for God, not of fear or trepidation.

The salutary fear of the Lord, which makes us devote ourselves to doing his will, was what the Lord demanded of Peter when he asked him three times whether he loved him. “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these others do? He answered, ‘Yes, Lord, you know I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my lambs.’” Three times he put the same question to Peter, who worried that the Lord was asking him the same question for the third time. But the Lord was trying to elicit from Peter a level of love that would flow out in filial fear and devotion to him. “I tell you most solemnly, when you were young you put on your own belt and walked where you liked; but when you grow old you will stretch out your hands, and somebody else will put a belt round you and take you where you would rather not go.” These words of the Lord explain what it means to be transformed into Christ. Without dying daily to our individual wills, we can never accomplish the mission of the Lord for us, and we can never be transformed into him. The Holy Spirit makes the journey of transformation into Jesus Christ easy for us by the gift of fear of the Lord. The holy fear increases in us with constant meditation on the passion and death of Jesus Christ, in which he loved us unto death. The Lord demands our love as he did of Peter, so that we may grow in the fear of the Lord.

Let us pray: O God, who by the glorification of your Christ and the light of the Holy Spirit have unlocked for us the gates of eternity, grant, we pray, that, partaking of so great a gift, our devotion may grow deeper and our faith be strengthened. Through our Lord Jesus, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.          

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