DO NOT BE AFRAID

    We hear in today’s Gospel the words, “Do not be afraid.”   At the same time, we hear about the “fear of the Lord”, as a gift of the Holy Spirit. What to say?

     This is a supernatural fear, the “fear of the Lord”, which is utterly different from fear of any other kind. When we ask God the Holy Spirit for His spiritual gift of “fear of the Lord” we are asking for this kind of fear, awe in God’s presence, a sense of His majestic authority and His total providence.

     God’s authority as the Creator does not cease with the act of creation. In other words, the universe does not simply go on moving under its own self-determined rules. What is true for one small part of nature is true for all.

     When the astronauts who landed on the moon looked back on the earth in the distance, they saw a beautiful, yet really quite tiny ball suspended in the amazing vastness of space. It was a sight to make anyone giddy. Is that planet which makes us feel both so secure and also yet so small really itself so tiny and insubstantial?

     This planet on which we live is infinitesimally small when seen in the context of the visible universe beyond the sky. And yet even all that is under God’s complete authority.

     Do we believe that He is really in control of the universe? Much more importantly, do we believe that He orders everything to our final good.                         ~  Fr. Paul Dobson