Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

First Reading - Proverbs 31:10-31

Responsorial Psalm - Psalm 128

Second Reading - 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6

Alleluia Verse - John 15

Gospel - Matthew 25:14-30

“Blessed are those who fear the Lord.”

Proverbs 9:10 tells us that the beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord. What does it mean to fear God?

There are two types of fear a person can have. The first is the fear of punishment. My father was old school. He believed in spanking his children when they did wrong. He did not abuse us, but his spankings were serious enough to make us think twice before misbehaving. We feared my dad’s punishment and in turn, feared my dad. He could get us to change our behavior with just a look. My mother would use this fear against us. All she had to do to get is to behave was to say, “I’m telling your father.” Upon hearing that simple phrase we immediately stopped doing whatever it was we were doing.

As I grew older and became a father myself, I came to realize that my dad’s correction was given out of love. He corrected us because he loved us enough to want us to be better people. The fear of punishment I had with my father was replaced with the fear of losing his love. I no longer feared being spanked. I feared disappointing my father. Disappointing my father hurt more than any spanking ever could.

The proper fear of the Lord is fearing disappointing the one we love the most. We know that we can never lose the love of God. God is love and he loves us sacrificially. He was willing to allow his own son to experience suffering and death for love of us. We can never lose God’s love for us but we can hurt and disappoint God by our actions. Sin damages our relationship with our heavenly father. Mortal sin cuts us off completely from God’s love. There is no greater sorrow than to have a love spurned. I never cease to be amazed how we mere creatures can wound God so deeply by simply turning our backs on his never-ending love. That is one of a parents’ greatest fears; losing the love of a child.

In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, at the end of our confession, we offer an act of contrition. We can see the two different types of fear of the Lord demonstrated in our acts of contrition. For those who haven’t been to confession in a while, the standard act of contrition goes:

“O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended you, and I detest all my sins because of your just punishments, but most of all because they offend you, my God, who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of your grace, to sin no more and to avoid the near occasions of sin.”

“I detest all my sins because of your just punishments.” This is the fear of the punishment of God. This is imperfect contrition. We are only sorry because we fear punishment. “I detest all my sins because they offend you, my God, who are all good and deserving of all my love.” This is fear of disappointing our heavenly Father by our actions. This is perfect contrition. Perfect contrition does not fear the punishment. It fears the disappointment. In the act of contrition, we promise to try to be the people he made us to be and, with his help, to do our best not to disappoint him again.

Just as little children thrive on the pride a parent has for them, so too do we thrive to have the favor of our creator. God is the source of all holiness. His holiness shines upon us in the form of his grace. We are holy in as much as we reflect God’s holiness back to him in the way we live our lives. So be holy as you heavenly Father is holy. Grace is given to those who fear disappointing the Lord and live their lives in such a way as to make their heavenly Father proud of them.

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