We naturally think of fear as a negative experience. “One
fears going into that neighbourhood at night because of the dangers hiding in
the shadows.” But there is another kind of fear that actually proves to be
beneficial. When one has something of great value, the fear of loosing it cause
the person to seek out positive and constructive courses of action to preserve
it.
The following is from the Office of Readings
From a treatise on
the psalms by Saint Hilary, bishop
The meaning of
“the fear of the Lord”
Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who walk in his
ways. Notice that when Scripture speaks of the fear of the Lord it does not
leave the phrase in isolation, as if it were a complete summary of faith. No,
many things are added to it, or are presupposed by it. From these we may learn
its meaning and excellence. In the book of Proverbs Solomon tells us: If you
cry out for wisdom and raise your voice for understanding, if you look for it
as for silver and search for it as for treasure, then you will understand the
fear of the Lord. We see here the difficult journey we must undertake before we
can arrive at the fear of the Lord.
We must begin by crying out for wisdom. We must hand over
to our intellect the duty of making every decision. We must look for wisdom and
search for it. Then we must understand the fear of the Lord.
“Fear” is not to be taken in the sense that common usage
gives it. Fear in this ordinary sense is the trepidation our weak humanity
feels when it is afraid of suffering something it does not want to happen. We
are afraid, or made afraid, because of a guilty conscience, the rights of
someone more powerful, an attack from one who is stronger, sickness,
encountering a wild beast, suffering evil in any form. This kind of fear is not
taught: it happens because we are weak. We do not have to learn what we should
fear: objects of fear bring their own terror with them.
But of the fear of the Lord this is what is written:
Come, my children, listen to me, I shall teach you the fear of the Lord. The
fear of the Lord has then to be learned because it can be taught. It does not
lie in terror, but in something that can be taught. It does not arise from the
fearfulness of our nature; it has to be acquired by obedience to the
commandments, by holiness of life and by knowledge of the truth.
For us the fear of God consists wholly in love, and
perfect love of God brings our fear of him to its perfection. Our love for God
is entrusted with its own responsibility: to observe his counsels, to obey his
laws, to trust his promises. Let us hear what Scripture says: And now, Israel,
what does the Lord your God ask of you except to fear the Lord your God and
walk in his ways and love him and keep his commandments with your whole heart
and your whole soul, so that it may be well for you?
The ways of the Lord are many, though he is himself the
way. When he speaks of himself he calls himself the way and shows us the reason
why he called himself the way: No one can come to the Father except through me.
We must ask for these many ways, we must travel along
these many ways, to find the one that is good. That is, we shall find the one
way of eternal life through the guidance of many teachers. These ways are found
in the law, in the prophets, in the gospels, in the writings of the apostles,
in the different good works by which we fulfill the commandments. Blessed are
those who walk these ways in the fear of the Lord.
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