When I was growing up, we were taught to be very afraid of the Lord, because the judgment was coming. Many people who grew up in the Church in the fifties and the sixties were nursed on fear. It became their constant companion, and too often, it was all they had. They didn’t have faith because there was too much fear in the way.
Fear refers to being afraid and it is the opposite of love. Where there is fear, there is a closed heart, and where there is love, there is an open heart. If we live in fear – and many were taught to do so – when will we ever get around to the work of our baptism, which is to love the world we are in, to love the people in it and to allow them to love us? When can that happen if our hearts are closed?
If we are afraid of God, we can’t love God. If we can’t love God, no matter how much God loves us, it won’t get in. But as St. Paul says, you are in Christ – why are you afraid? Why do you worry about when Christ comes? You can’t know when it will be. But as long as you live the life he has given you, as long as you open that life and share it, you have nothing to fear.
--Fr. Patrick. Michaels,
Homily, November 19, 2023
Image source: Detail of the Last Judgment, mosaic dome, Baptistry of San Giovanni, Florence, Italy (1240-1300), https://artandtheology.org/2018/06/12/get-ready-artful-devotion/
Thank you for the beautiful homily, Father Pat! This was so true for me growing up.
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