An important homily

Last week, the first reading said that fear of the Lord is the first stage of wisdom. This seems to make sense in the context of November, the month of fear. We begin this month by dressing up like ghosts and goblins and trying to scare each other and end it by maxing out our credit cards trying to buy love for Christmas. I’ve found it fascinating that, in the little bit of television I’ve been able to watch lately, there are two shows that deal almost entirely with fear. I’ve seen a couple of the so-called reality shows that put a family in supposedly haunted places in the middle of the night hoping that they will have some kind of frightening paranormal experience. Another kind of fear based show is, appropriately called “fear factor”; a show in which people see if they an overcome such fears as eating bugs, jumping between moving semi-trucks, or bungee jumping. So, this prompts the question, what is the difference between this kind of fear and fear of the Lord.

When I think of fear of the Lord, I think of Rosa Parks. A black woman in the 1960s knew that the law said she needed to give up her seat at the front of the bus to a white person and move to the back of the bus. Yet, Rosa Parks knew injustice when she saw it. Even though she, undoubtedly, feared the ramifications of her actions, Rosa also knew and understood that God calls us to do what is right. She didn’t bury her talent out of fear of a particular situation but stood up in the face of fear because she knew her God walked with her and gave her courage.
I also think of tiny, little mother Teresa whose life was lived in the fear of the Lord. We may picture her taking care of the lepers in the streets of Calcutta and seeing the face of Christ in each one. Yet, she also stood before powerful politicians and decried the scourge of abortion, saying that any culture that murders its most vulnerable is bereft of morality.

So, by fear of the Lord, I’m not talking about something that leaves us paralyzed. In fact, fear of the lord is synonymous with love of the Lord. Both fear and love of the Lord remind us that God has created us in his own image and put us in this world to live a life of justice. He has given all of us gifts and talents and, like the worthy wife of the first reading who works with her husband to bring up a God-fearing household, we are called to use them in love.

Yet, in our own country, there is much of the wrong kind of fear. Perhaps the most troubling use of this fear is through spousal abuse. I say this in light of the first reading as well as other scripture passages; oftentimes, men will use religious fear to control women and prevent them from seeking safety. Let me try to undo one such weapon of fear. It is often believed that the church believes divorce to be a sin. This is patently false. While the church, like everyone else, would hope that all marriages would be life-long relationships of mutual trust and self-sacrifice, we recognize that there are times when one spouse, usually the woman, must leave in order to be safe. There is no sin in doing this. Let me be clearer. If you are a woman whose husband physically hurts you or your children, you need to seek help. Call the police or go to a shelter or talk to a friend. Do whatever you need to do to feel safe. You can even talk to me after mass if it would be safe for you. The church wants you to be safe and God needs you to stand up to injustice and not bury your talents. God loves you and wants you to be loved.