About fear

FEAR is, of course, an emotion that can either be good or

bad, depending on how it is experienced, who or what the object is,

what motive, reason or cause produces it.

            One good fear is the gift of the Holy Spirit called fear

of the Lord. It’s a filial fear of offending God who is our Creator

and Father. The bad one is what is behind the words of Christ when he

said, “Be not afraid,” on a number of occasions.

            It’s clear that we have to know when to fear, and when

not. In the Bible, some studies claim that there are 365 passages that

speak of ‘fear not,’ while a little more than 100 passages only call

for a healthy sense of fear.

            That seems to indicate that we should live our life more

without fear than with fear. We should be fearless without

compromising those occasions when we should fear.

            In other words, to fear and not to fear can and should be

together. They need not be mutually exclusive to each other as long as

we know the reasons for each of them. They can even happen at the same

time, but obviously for their respective reasons that can arise also

at the same time.

            We need to fear because that is what is proper of a child

to his father. There’s always a healthy kind of fear involved in any

relationship that is based on love and respect. It is the fear of not

offending the other party. And this is much more so if the other party

is superior to us. If the other party is God himself, then this filial

fear is absolutely needed.

            Besides, such fear can trigger a series of good effects. A

passage from the Book of Proverbs affirms this. “The fear of the Lord

is the beginning of wisdom.” (9,10) Pope St. Gregory the Great, in

explaining the dynamism of this filial fear, says:

            “Through the fear of the Lord, we rise to piety, from

piety then to knowledge, from knowledge we derive strength, from

strength counsel, with counsel we move toward understanding, and with

intelligence toward wisdom and thus, by the sevenfold grace of the

Spirit, there opens to us at the end of the ascent the entrance to the

life of Heaven.”

            With this fear of the Lord, we acknowledge we are

creatures who are always dependent on God. This is what is called the

‘poverty of spirit’ that figures in one of the beatitudes, “Blessed

are the poor in the spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

            We therefore would not want to be separated from God. It

is the fear of losing God. Thus, this fear arouses in us as a keen

desire to be with God, a vibrant sense of adoration and reverence for

God and a sense of horror and sorrow for sin.

            I would say that this filial fear of the Lord is what

would lead us also not to be afraid of God when we are before his

overwhelming majesty, power and wisdom, just as what Christ told his

disciples when they saw him walking on the water (cfr Mt 14,27) and

when he appeared to them after his resurrection. (cfr Mt 28,10)

            There is obviously an organic link between this filial

fear of the Lord and the fearlessness of one who is truly with God. We

have to be wary of the possibility of reversing these two modes.

            This can happen because instead of having the healthy fear

of the Lord, we lose it instead, thinking we can be sufficient just by

ourselves, and we are not anymore to sin. Sad to say, this scenario is

now quite widespread.

            And on the other hand, instead of not being afraid of God

who is always a Father to us, ever understanding and forgiving, we

choose to be afraid of him because we allow ourselves to be

overwhelmed by his infinite powers, or because we are ashamed to

return to him to ask for forgiveness after we have fallen.

            This is a dangerous situation for us to be in. That’s

because when we are afraid of God and prefer to stay away from him, we

make ourselves an easy prey to the temptations of the devil, the

allurements of the world, and the tricks of our own personal

weaknesses.

            It’s clear that we need to know how to handle fear. Yes,

it is an emotion, but like any emotion, it has to be enlightened,

trained and directed by our right reason, and ultimately by the

theological virtues of faith, hope and charity.