Homily for Ordinary Time 5
February 9, 2025
Fear of the Lord
St.
Benedict and St. Scholastica were a brother-and-sister saintly duo. Scholastica
was a cloistered nun (which is a nun who never leaves her convent), while St.
Benedict had founded a monastery of monks. Once a year, these holy siblings
would visit each other for supper and conversation. One time, the conversation
was so enjoyable and stretched so late that Benedict, realizing he had to get
back to his monastery, began to gather his belongings. But Scholastica begged
her brother to stay, for the conversation was about holy things. Benedict
refused, saying, “But dear sister, I simply cannot spend the night outside of
the monastery. My monks need me.” So Scholastica folded her hands and bowed her
head, clearly praying. Instantly, a thunderstorm struck up so severely that
Benedict couldn’t venture past the door. He turned to his sister and demanded,
“What have you done?” Scholastica answered, “I asked you and you would not
listen, but I asked God and He did listen. Now, travel home – if you can!” Of
course, he couldn’t, so they spent the rest of the night in uplifting prayer
and conversation.
Nature,
such as that thunderstorm, has a way of humbling us. How many times have our
plans been upended by inclement weather (like this weekend’s snowstorm)? Or
maybe we had wanted to get together with friends but a microscopic virus laid
us low. Truth is, we are not in control of our lives, God is – that both a
freeing and a frightening reality.
This realization
that God is in control is a gift of the Holy Spirit known as “fear of the
Lord.” Fear of the Lord is not about being afraid of God as if He were a
tyrant; rather, it is respect and awe for who He is and His power, much like we
respect our earthly parents. A good definition of “fear of the Lord” is the
pithy quote, “There is a God – and I’m not Him!”
Both
Isaiah and Peter learned fear of the Lord in these readings today – Isaiah’s
vision of God’s tremendous power made him realize that he was so far from
holiness. Peter, too, when faced with this supernatural miracle, realized he
was in the presence of a power far greater than his own limited fishing
knowledge.
It is
absolutely critical that we foster fear of the Lord, because many cultural
philosophies put the human person at the center of the universe, not God. One such
philosophy is secular humanism, the belief that human beings can master
the universe by their own efforts, talents, science, and technology – needing
no room for God. I recently re-watched the fantastic movie “Interstellar”,
which is set in a dystopian future where the earth is dying. Scientists have to
desperately find a new planet for our species to live on. It’s an entertaining
movie, but it left me with the uneasy message that we humans are on our own.
We have to figure it all out ourselves – God is unconcerned with our fate, and
has left us to our own devices. Secular humanism at its finest – we will
come up with all the solutions necessary to save ourselves and the planet!
But God
has a way of upending such pride. For example, before the launch of the
Titanic, the captain Edward Smith was asked about the new design and safety
features of this giant cruise ship. Famously, he quipped, “Not even God could
sink this ship.” And…we know the rest of the story. Fear of the Lord prevents
such overconfidence in our own efforts.
The
other cultural philosophy that is so dangerous is relativism, the belief
that we are the final arbiters of truth. The ancient Greek philosopher
Protagoras famously said, “Man is the measure of all things,” while the
less-ancient NBA player Dwayne Wade famously said, “Live your truth.” But of
course, we cannot practically live that way. I would not want to drive across a
bridge that was built by someone who believed that math and engineering are
only an opinion! Gravity works, whether we like it or not, because it was a law
written into the very fabric of creation by a Divine Lawgiver. Putting my hand
on a hot stove will hurt and do damage, even if I don’t want it to. Just like
there are unchanging natural laws independent of our own opinions, so there are
unchanging moral and spiritual truths that exist whether we like them or not.
Right and wrong were built into creation by our good God – and it’s up to us to
humble ourselves and conform our lives to Him.
If we do
not humble ourselves before the Lord, then He will often do it for us, and that
tends to be more difficult. One of our parishioners was telling me a remarkable
story. He had been a total lukewarm Christian for most of his college and
young-adult days, until one day when he was driving home on Route 84 and fell
asleep at the wheel. He crashed, totaled the car…and escaped with only one tiny
cut on his finger. He realized this accident, in which he should have died, was
God saying, “You’ve got to choose – Me, or the world. You can no longer
straddle the issue.” So Dan chose the Lord, and is one of the most on-fire
Catholics I’ve met. But it took an intervention of God to break through to him.
Fear of
the Lord is not in competition with love of the Lord, though! In
contrast, both fear and love are held in a creative tension. In theology, we
talk about God’s transcendence and His immanence – this means
that while God is far greater than anything we could ever conceive – the
all-holy, eternal, infinite Creator – He is also intimately united to our lives
and desires a close friendship with us. It is both-and – God must be
worshipped, and also wants to be our friend.
In fact,
to love and serve him properly requires fear of the Lord. This is why Isaiah
and Peter are able to embrace their new missions, with the proper and healthy
respect for the majesty of God. Without fear of the Lord, God becomes nothing
more than a permissive uncle, who winks at our indiscretions, rather than Lord
of all creation to whom we must conform our lives.
It says
in Scripture that “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” How true! Our
relationship with the Lord must include awe and wonder – it makes me tremble
when I consider that a few short minutes from now I will be holding the God of
the universe in my hands. I beg for the Lord’s mercy on the day I will have to
give an account of how I have shepherded souls to Heaven. Every human being
ought to be in awe and trembling at the gift of life, this magnificent world,
at grace, at the promise of Heaven.
My
friends, let us cultivate this awe and wonder towards the Lord. Consider how
small we are, and the vastness of creation…consider the price paid for your
salvation…consider the awesome dignity to which we are called, of being Temples
of the Holy Spirit and children of the King of Kings. Truly, great is the Lord!
No comments:
Post a Comment