Do not be afraid of the difficulties and the misunderstandings you will encounter along the way. I will always be with you, and you, in spite of everything, will always be joyous.
Blue Book #29p
The heart of God calls us to give him our hearts, which means to give him ourselves. We must hold nothing back. This means if we truly love God as he wants to be loved, we assume full responsibility for our actions and are not afraid of the approval or disapproval of anyone in authority.
Grace in Every Season (February 9)
To fear God doesn’t mean to be terrified of Him… it’s more a sense of awe, reverence, adoration, honor, worship, and love but yes some fear of life without Him. To want to do His will so completely, that nothing else matters, not even our own lives.
I keep thinking back to 2020 and the intense fear that engulfed the world and the huge government over-reach that came from it. This effected every area of society, but the most heart breaking to see was how it effected the churches.
For several weeks while our parishes were closed down, or setting up regulations that made the Holy Spirit cry from within me, the Lord called my family to drive over an hour away to attend weekly Mass. At this ‘refuge’ (that’s the word I kept hearing while driving back and forth), we could choose for ourselves if masks were the right health choice for us or not, we were offered Communion on the tongue. We sang!
I literally cried the first time we were there and I asked the Lord… what’s this difference that I’m seeing. The answer was ‘these priests are not afraid of the cross’. (as a side note… this is not to disparage our parish priests… they were truly overwhelmed and under the bounds of obedience that this other place being a friary didn’t have and could discern the government regulations a little more loosely).
Those who fear the Lord truly are not afraid of the cross … or ‘Karens’ … they just do God’s will for the moment at hand, knowing that even through the difficult times that may come, He will have them covered.