What Do We Fear? Come Holy Spirit!

In the traditional rite, the Feast of Pentecost has its own octave, and so every day this week is known as a day in Pentecost Week, and the liturgical color is still red. The meditations for this week in the Benedictus, which is the pre-Vatican II counterpart to the Magnificat, focus on the gift of holy fear, what it is, and the effects it has in our souls. It leads us to reflect on what we fear in our lives and what steps we need to take to draw closer to a holy fear of the Lord so that we may truly hate sin and work to avoid it at all costs for love of God.

Henry Cardinal Manning, who was made a cardinal by Pope Blessed Pius IX and died in 1892, distinguishes in one of the reflections between the four kinds of fear. The first kind is the fear of men and of the world, which causes one to fear their blame or ridicule and to fear losing their praise or good will. This is the kind of fear that works death, says Cardinal Manning. The second kind of fear is what arises from the fear of pain and hell and so causes one to avoid sin, although that person may neither really hate sin or love God. The third kind of fear comes from a mixture of the fear of pain and love of God. It springs from faith and so is a grace of the Holy Spirit, but it is still imperfect and needs to be purified to become the fourth kind of fear, which is the filial fear that springs solely from the love of God. It consists in the acknowledgement of the majesty, sanctity, and power of God, and a submissiveness to His Will. It leads a person to truly hate sin and makes that person want to do anything to avoid the most venial sin out of pure love for God. St. Catherine of Siena, who was fully endowed with holy fear, once said, “If on one side I beheld a sea of fire, and on the other the most trivial sin, I should not hesitate to cast myself into the flames rather than commit the sin.”

The gift of holy fear gives us this consciousness of the horror of sin and a control over ourselves so that we are protected not only in contact with unlawful things, but also lawful things, so that we may be prudent with them and not let the fondness of them overtake our love for God. It helps direct even our love for creatures and other lesser things toward the love of God and moves us to use them for His glory without fear of persecution or consequence.

What are we willing to do for the love of God? And how far are we willing to go to spread the Gospel? Sadly, there are many today who are afraid to speak up because they fear losing friendships or being ostracized from society, and maybe they are even afraid of losing their own life. Having the gift of holy fear frees us from these worldly fears and gives us the ability to only focus on God and doing things for His glory.

To end, let us pray this prayer by Cardinal Manning for the gift of holy fear: Restrain me, O Lord, by Thy holy fear, in all my actions, words, and thoughts. Penetrate my soul with the sense of Thy sanctity and of the sinfulness of sin, that I may never offend Thee even by a deliberate thought. Shelter me from all approaches of evil that I may guard my senses and keep my heart with all diligence. O God, my Sanctifier, dwell in me and cast out of me whatsoever is contrary to Thy holiness and truth, for the merits of Jesus my Lord. Amen.

And we may add, give us the boldness to proclaim Your truth without thought to worldly fears and consequences.