As stated in the post earlier today,
we will devote a separate post for each of the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit, as
we approach the great feast of Pentecost in a few weeks. I hope to
complete a post on each of the gifts prior to that feast.
Before we begin the first gift,
though, I would like to clarify one point I made towards the end of the last
post, and that is, we don't make use of these gifts ourselves, which I may have
implied we did. These are graces from God in which he operates in
us. We are not the operator of these gifts, God is. He is the
cause of them, and he causes whatever the effects of them are in us.
Also, their work in our lives is
usually not very perceptible unless we are pretty far along on the spiritual
path. It is very hard for the spiritual novice to explain how one or more
gifts are working in his or her life. That kind of insight, given by God,
can usually only be given by a person in an advanced stage of the spiritual
life, or perhaps by his or her spiritual director, who is him or herself very
knowledgeable on spiritual things.
Nonetheless, these gifts are given
to us, and do have meritorious effects in our lives, so we should seek them no
matter what stage of the spiritual life we are at. Our ability
to realize them or explain how they are operating in our
lives is not the most important thing, the most important thing is that they
are given and operate in our lives.
Tonight, we will begin with fear of
the Lord. It is said in Proverbs 9:10, "the fear of the
Lord is the beginning of wisdom." To me, it is the start of
the spiritual life. Wisdom is considered the "first" gift, and
this is considered the lowest. It makes sense for us, I think, to start
here.
Here is the definition of fear
of the Lord I gave in the earlier post:
This gift gives us the desire not to
offend God, and the certainty He will give us the grace not to. This
is analogous to our relationship with our parents. We do not want to
hurt them, not because we are afraid of them per se, but rather,
because we respect them because of how much they mean to us.
There are four types of fear of the
Lord, according to Thomas Aquinas. There is a worldly fear of
the punishment of the Lord, in which we fear God's punishment. There is servile
fear of the Lord, in which a person fears going to hell, but has or is
given the desire to change to avoid that fate, or is at least
aware that he can. There is initial fear of the Lord,
which is fear of offending him because he is good and holy. This is
the first type of fear in which the fear is truly a "holy" fear
and not a "scared" fear. This is the true beginning
of turning away from the world and towards God. Finally,
there is filial fear of the Lord, which is fear not so much of offending
God directly, but fear for us doing something to offend him. (Initial
fear is kind of in between servile and filial.) This final type of
fear, of the Lord, filial, is the one that is given by the Holy Spirit.
One can see, however, that one must normally proceed through the other stages
of fear to get to this one, and I do believe we can say the Spirit works to
lead us through those stages, although it would seem to me to be more human
effort still at this point (see below where I discuss things we can do to help
move us along in this process). The teaching of Aquinas is quite firm
that the gift itself in the traditional sense is only the fourth type of fear,
filial.
Fear of the Lord does have positive
effects.
1) It allows us to see the grandeur,
majesty, sanctity and purity of God, and therefore, dispose to us to have a
reverence toward him. (The word "reverence" is sometimes used
instead of fear.)
2) It gives us a horror of sin, and
sorrow for having committed sin.
3) It gives us a desire to avoid
sin, and the near occasions of it.
4) It gives us a perfect detachment
from all created things.
5) It gives us a lofty degree of
humility.
6) It gives us an appreciation of
the spiritual life of grace.
To dispose us to receive this gift,
and to increase its operation in our lives, we should meditate often on
the majesty and grandeur of God, and the corresponding horror of sin, practice
reverence and look on holy things regularly, examine our conscience regularly,
as well as practice detachment from earthly things, enter into solitude on
regular occasions, and practice the spiritual works of mercy towards others who
may like us, need help recognizing the majesty of God, and the horror of sin.
This gift perfects the virtue of
hope. By realizing who God is, and who we are, we turn to him, not
ourselves, for our hope of salvation. It also perfects the cardinal
virtue of temperance, because when we fear God, we realize everything comes
from him, and we therefore use created things, including our bodies, with
reverence, and not to excess or defect. Finally, this gift
corresponds to the Beatitude of poverty of spirit. When a man fears God,
he does not seek greatness in himself. He, instead, realizes and embraces
his littleness, empties himself so as to be full of God, and becomes happier in
the process.
Pope Francis has this to say about
fear of the Lord. “This is the fear of God: abandonment into the goodness
of Our Father who loves us so. … This is what the Holy Spirit does in our
hearts: He makes us feel like children in the arms of our Daddy … with the
wonder and joy of a child who sees himself served and loved by his Father.”
May we dispose ourselves to receive
the gift of fear of the Lord and become true children of God.
Joseph most chaste and obedient, pray for us
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