Have you cast out prematurely any or all forms of holy fear in your relationship with God that you approach Him in a trivial way? - Daily Reflections February 5,2015

OF LOVE AND FEAR

                                                              

“Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. My last confession was… was… just a while ago actually.” Quite a number of penitents begin their confessions this way. No, they have not sinned again just minutes after their last confession. They just want to confess all over again to make sure they didn’t miss anything and that they have been forgiven.

       Moral theology calls this a scrupulous conscience. A scrupulous conscience is one that sees sin when there is actually no sin. It is always uptight and on guard. Scrupulous people sincerely believe they love God. That love is founded on fear and punishment. This is unhealthy spirituality. But while fear is not to be the foundation of love of God, fear is still an important ingredient of genuine Christian spirituality. We must not love God out of fear, but we must fear God out of love.

       This fear is not the fear of terror but one that is in awe, wonder and humility before a great mystery. In today’s First Reading, two mountains are symbolically compared. The mountain of Moses, about which he is said to have seen a spectacle so fearful that he said, “I am terrified and trembling” (Hebrews 12:21), and then “Mount Zion… the heavenly Jerusalem, to myriads of angels in festal gathering…”(v 22). The fear and trembling spoken of in the Old Testament is not the fear of the scrupulous. For, indeed, the God of the scrupulous is a distortion of the same God of the Old and New Covenant.

       Philosopher Peter Kreeft commented on a misinterpretation of the Biblical line, “Perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). He wrote, “Love should cast out terror, but it should not cast out awe. True love includes awe… Perfect love casts out fear, but unless we begin with fear, we cannot progress to perfect love. Fear is the caterpillar; love is the butterfly.”

       Nurture the caterpillar of your fear and let it bloom to the butterfly of love! Fr. Joel Jason

REFLECTION QUESTION: Have you cast out prematurely any or all forms of holy fear in your relationship with God that you approach Him in a trivial way?

Banish unhealthy terror in my heart, O Lord, and keep me in awe of Your love and mercy. Amen.