fear of the Lord

Acts 9:26-31; Psalm 22 I will praise you, Lord, in the assembly of your people; 1 John 3:18-24; John 15:1-10

 

In the first reading we get a picture of the earlier church, "The church throughout Judea, Galilee, Samaria was at peace.  It was being built up and walked in the fear of the Lord and with the consolation of the Holy Spirit it grew in numbers."

What does it mean to walk in the fear of the Lord?

It doesn't mean to be filled with anxiety and terror.

Fear of the Lord is a gift of the Holy Spirit.  It is one of the seven fold gifts: fear of the Lord, knowledge, understanding, counsel, fortitude, wisdom, piety.

It is the foundational gift.  It is the beginning of perfection.  Fear of the Lord teaches us how to keep it real, how to live in reality and to escape make believe. 

There are two aspects of "fear of the lord."

1) fear of the Lord means to fear punishment.  Hell is a real possibility.  It enables us to ask the question, "What is at stake for me?"  We recognize reality in light of our selfishness.  We love God for our sake.   God will often get us to look at ourself so that he might draw us closer to him.  Here God invites us to learn to live with great expectations.  The one who expects nothing can no longer live.

2) fear of the Lord teaches us to move beyond ourself.  It deepens our sensitivity to love.  Thus, we begin to fear offending the one who loves us; we do not want to hurt the one who loves.  

We ask the question, "what is at stake for the other?"  We love God for the sake of God.

This is the most essential aspect of the gift to "fear the Lord."  Here God invites us to live with great appreciation.  Appreciation becomes the fuel in living with love and seeking to never betray the love that is offered.

This is why Jesus tells us he is the vine and we are the branches and that we must remain in him.  The closer we are to Him the more we will grow in our awareness and sensitivity to the cost of love.  We recognize reality.  We then shall grow in perfection seeking not to offend the one who has loved us so.

Fear of the Lord is everything.

In May we honor the Blessed virgin Mary.  It is important to have Mary moments in our life. 

St. Paul tells us we should direct our thoughts to all that is "true, deserving of respect, honest, pure, admirable, decent, virtuous, and worthy of praise.'

We should ponder the blessed mother.  She teaches us perfectly what it means to live a life that is rooted in proper fear of the Lord.  She always said 'yes' to God and her love never knew sin.  

We as Catholics do not worship her, we do not pray to her, but we do ask her to intercede for us, to pray for us.  We do what God the Father did.  God asked her to intercede for humanity so that Jesus might come into the world, "you shall conceive a son whose kingdom will have no end."  Mary said 'yes' and God raised a fallen world.  We invite her to take us by the hand and lead us ever closer to the vine, her Son, so that we might bear much fruit.

We should set aside Mary moments throughout our day and reflect on the beauty of such a woman, of such a mother, walk in her stead, fearing the lord and growing in perfection daily.

We also honor our mother the Church.  She has cared for us through out our life.  She teaches us right from wrong.  She helps us understand what is offensive to God, she also teaches us about the love of God.   She gives us the gift of faith in the waters of baptism, directs us toward eternal life, gives us the experience of forgiveness in the sacrament of reconciliation, she feeds us from her table with the Eucharist, she heals us in the sacrament of the sick, she strengthens us with confirmation, allows us to grow with the sacrament of marriage, she guides us with the priesthood, and she gathers us together as the people of God.  She has been ever faithful to her mission, we should honor her well. 

We honor our earthly mothers.  This day is set aside for  'public expression of love and reverence for the mothers of our country."  Where would we be without our mothers.  Our belly button alone reminds us we are forever indebted, our life is not our own.  May we pause today to embrace our mothers, to thank them, and to love them properly by walking in the fear of the Lord and live with great expectations and great appreciation.