The meaning of "the fear of the Lord".
Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who walk in his
ways. Notice that when the Scripture speaks of the fear of 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 tell 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 are 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 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 natures; 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 all 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.
