In many ways the Lord tells us that we should fear nothing, except sin, which takes away our friendship with God. Before any difficulty, before the environment, before an uncertain future... we should not be afraid, we should be strong and courageous, as befits children of God. A Christian cannot live in fear, but must carry in his heart a holy fear of God, whom he loves madly.
Throughout
the Gospel, "Christ repeats several times: Do not be afraid...do not be
afraid. And at the same time, together with these calls to fortitude,
resounds the exhortation: Fear, rather fear him who is able to send body
and soul to hell (Mt 10:28). We are called to fortitude and, at the
same time, to the fear of God, and this must be the fear of love, filial
fear. And only when this fear penetrates our hearts can we be truly
strong with the fortitude of the Apostles, of the martyrs, of the
confessors".
Among
the principal effects that the fear of God causes in the soul is
detachment from created things and an interior attitude of vigilance to
avoid the least occasions of sin. It leaves in the soul a particular
sensitivity to detect all that can grieve the Holy Spirit.
The
gift of fear is at the root of humility, inasmuch as it gives the soul
the awareness of its fragility and the need to have the will in faithful
and loving submission to the infinite Majesty of God, placing ourselves
always in our place, without wanting to take the place of God, without
receiving honors that are for the glory of God. One of the
manifestations of pride is the ignorance of the fear of God.
Together
with humility, the gift of the fear of God has a singular affinity with
the virtue of temperance, which leads to the moderate use of human
things, subordinating them to the supernatural end. The most frequent
root of sin is found precisely in the disordered pursuit of sensible
pleasures or material things, and this is where this gift acts,
purifying the heart and keeping it whole for God.
The
gift of fear is par excellence that of the struggle against sin. All
the other gifts help him in this particular mission: the lights of the
gifts of understanding and wisdom reveal to him the greatness of God and
the true meaning of sin; the practical directives of the gift of
counsel keep him in awe of God; the gift of fortitude sustains him in an
unflinching struggle against evil.
This
gift, which was infused with the others in Baptism, increases in the
measure in which we are faithful to the graces granted to us by the Holy
Spirit; and in a specific way, when we consider the greatness and
majesty of God, when we make a profound examination of conscience,
discovering and giving the importance it has to our faults and sins. The
holy fear of God will easily lead us to contrition, to repentance out
of filial love: "love and fear of God. They are two strong castles, from
which to wage war against the world and the demons".
The
holy fear of God will gently lead us to a prudent distrust of
ourselves, to flee quickly from the occasions of sin; and it will
incline us to a greater delicacy with God and with all that concerns
Him. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to help us through this gift to
sincerely recognize our faults and to be truly sorry for them. May he
make us react like the psalmist: my eyes have shed rivers of tears,
because they have not kept your law. Let us ask him that, with
gentleness of soul, we may have the sense of sin at the surface of our
hearts.
https://www.hablarcondios.org/meditaciondiaria.aspx