FEAR OF THE LORD IS THE BEGINNING OF WISDOM

A SERMON FOR THE 4TH SUNDAY IN LENT

When we summon up the courage to turn on the television, the scenes that greet us from around the world are alarming.  They remind me of those classic science fiction movies that show famous places all over the globe empty and deserted, the panicked chatter of newsreaders in different languages alerting people to the dangers of the alien invasion or whatever it might be.  One such movie was based on a book by H.G. Wells, War of the Worlds.  Its plot has become the template for nearly every alien invasion movie ever since—one moment, people are going about their usual routine, and then, all of a sudden, momentous events change everything.  We all end up in fear and panic, and things become very very bad.  Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?  The difference between War of the Worlds and the other books and movies that followed is in the ending—the aliens are defeated, sure, but how?  By millions of tiny microbes to which the aliens are exposed for the first time.  They’re infected by a virus.  Germs.  God’s tiniest living creatures saved the planet.

Like so many of H.G. Wells’ books (Animal Farm, 1984, to name but two), War of the Worlds was not only insightful, but prophetic.  God has unleashed his little creatures once again.  And I believe he has done so not to punish us, but to save us.  We have been warned many times—take a look at the Spanish Flu that decimated the world at the end of the First World War.  Have we ever thought about the timing of that Spanish Flu?  It happened right after the apparitions of Fatima!  Our Lady warned us then, and she told us what was needed to avoid the great chastisement of mankind—the Rosary.  Did we heed her warning?  Did we do as she commanded?  John XXIII failed to publish the Third Secret of Fatima in 1960, which, according to those who have read it, predicted terrible things in the Church and the world.  He failed to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  Instead, he pursued his path of destruction—first in the Church with his new Vatican Council, and then in the world, by allowing Russia to spread her errors throughout the world.  What country today continues the spread of those Marxist atheistic errors?  China.  Do we begin to see how this is all working out?

Nevertheless, this is not a time to be looking back at history.  We are far too preoccupied by what’s happening here and now.  By what’s going to happen in the future, no longer the foreseeable future by the way, because we can’t foresee it.  It is an unknown future, and because it’s unknown, it terrifies us.  We have all come to understand exactly what Franklin Delano Roosevelt meant when he said “there’s nothing to fear but fear itself.”  It’s not the coronavirus directly that has emptied our streets, levelled our economy, closed our churches, and changed our lives beyond recognition.  All this has been caused not by the little germs, but by our fear of those little germs.  I’m not saying we should not take precautions; God gave us an intellect and hopefully the virtue of prudence to go with it.  But deep inside of us, we should not allow ourselves to be taken over by fear.

Easier said than done, you might say.  But I’ve been harping about this ever since I’ve been speaking from this pulpit.  If you’re in the state of grace, there is nothing to fear and you should have peace in your hearts.  So long as you remain in that state of grace, the worst thing that can possibly happen to you is that you will die a little earlier than you would have liked.  But is that so bad, to pass from this short life, this test of your loyalty to God, into an eternity in his blessed presence, a life of blissful glory that will never end?  This is the consolation for us loyal Catholics who 1) remain faithful to the Church Christ founded, who 2) remain faithful to his commandments, and who 3) regularly receive Christ himself in the Blessed Sacrament.  Do these three things and you will save your souls.  What else truly matters?

If you’re in the state of grace, go about your business and live your live as best you can in the midst of all the restrictions and hardship we’re being called upon to endure for a while.  Let not your hearts be troubled, as the good Lord advised us when times start getting rough.  And if you’re not in the state of grace, or simply want the extra graces that come from the sacrament, I will be hearing confessions after Mass for as long as it takes.  Who knows, this may be your last opportunity to go, so make the most of it.  During the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, the lines for confession outside the Catholic churches went round the block.  Today, in our consumer age of 2020, people are still lining up, not for confession, but for toilet paper.  If you think about it, there’s something rather symbolic about that, isn’t there?  Let’s rethink our priorities…

I mentioned a few minutes ago, that God has unleased his tiny little Covid-19 creatures to save us rather than as a punishment.  They do so through that fear that currently pervades the population of the entire planet.   As Catholics, we can try and put this fear out of our heads through Confession and remaining in the state of grace.  But think of the rest of the world who are without this source of peace and assurance...   

Many of them, it’s true, have a kind of Christian faith.  They might believe they’re saved, and we can only hope and pray that their souls are truly ready to be judged.  But none of them can have that “blessed assurance” they sing so nicely about, that they will actually save their souls outside the Church.  So I would beg you that as you say your Rosary in these times, and I know many of you are doing so, and very fervently, you will pray hard for all those outside the Church who have no sacraments by which they can cleanse their souls and be certain they are temples of the Holy Ghost. 

And what about the rest of humanity?  Those teeming millions who are ignorant of the Gospel and Christ’s message, who live their lives according to their own pleasures and interests?  In these times, many are turning to God.  Fear drives them, like nothing else could, into his arms.  That’s why this fear is a grace from God.  Their understanding of who or what God is may not be perfect.  It might even be very far from the truth.  But if they’re sorry for the bad things they’ve done, and ask God, in whatever form they may imagine him, then who’s to say the true God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, will not take pity on their prayers and welcome them into his eternal kingdom.  If they really love God, and have perfect contrition, then hopefully their love will, as our Lord said, cover a multitude of sins.  God is all-knowing, all-just, and all-merciful.  Let’s commend them all into his mercy—“lead all souls to heaven,” we pray in our Rosary, “especially those most in need of thy mercy.”

Whatever the case, it is our duty to pray for our neighbor.  To love our neighbor as ourselves.  Finally, finally, we’re realizing that we do not love our neighbor by hugging him.  A superficial display of affection is not love.  Love is sacrifice, and we must do what we can to sacrifice our time, our energy, and yes, our safety, our health, and if need be, our lives, for our neighbor.  By doing so, we will truly be loving our neighbor as ourselves.  And “greater love hath no man than that he lay down his life” for his neighbor.  You don’t need to be told these are hard times.  But hard times call for great sacrifices, acts of heroic virtue.  So stay in the state of grace yourselves, and go and do good things.  Be a hero—for your family, your next-door neighbor, whoever you come in contact with.  They are all afraid, many of them don’t have our faith.  But now we are all humbled by the fact that it’s God’s smallest living creature, an invisible enemy, a mere virus, that has brought down the mighty from their seat, that has done so much harm to us proud and mighty human beings.  Our Tower of Babel has been brought low, and people live in fear.  That fear is the grace of God.  It may indeed be their “saving grace.”  “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” says Holy Scripture.  You are the instruments of the Lord now.  So be heroes, do what you can, by prayer and example, and help bring the world along that path from fear to Faith.