Fear is an obstacle to God's love

By Mary Regina Morrell
© Catholic Online 2005

"Loving can cost a lot but not loving always costs more, and those who fear to love often find that want of love is an emptiness that robs the joy from life." Merle Shain

For a few seconds this evening the burning question on my mind was, "How do you put out a spaghetti fire??"

Up until now my stove experience only included potholders, popcorn, Tupperware and cooking utensil fires - oh, wait, I vaguely remember flaming poultry, too.

Then there were the two propane barbecue grills that were spewing flames from the bottom in addition to from the top. One of them required police intervention. The other almost took me and the house because I couldn't find my glasses to read the instructions on the fire extinguisher.

And, of course, I will never forget the smoldering charcoal barbecue grill that I tried to revive with gasoline (I was only a teenager!) which suddenly led to "The lawn is on fire!!" fire, or the backyard clubhouse sending up billows of black smoke after one of my sons found a lighter. As the story goes five of my sons and two neighborhood children formed a bucket brigade scooping water off the pool cover to put it out.

Now, those incidents are memories for the family journal. Recalling them is sure to generate a laugh of two, but at that time the most prominent thought was one of pure, unadulterated fear. Fortunately, my instinctive nature is one of calm, but I cannot deny the fact that, on those fiery occasions, fear threatened to undermine my presence of mind and my decisions.

Fear will do that.

Fear broods in the mind, corrupting reason with imagined losses and a tenacious anticipation of the unknown. It was this kind of fear that caused the Jewish people to turn on Moses after he led them out of Egypt, fearful of what the future would hold. We often react the same when faced with life's uncertainties.

Fear manifests itself in paradoxes - anger and timidity; isolation and dependency; a need for the spotlight or a need for the shadows.

Worse still, fear swells in the heart like the tide, leaving no room for love as it is meant to be. One of the biggest obstacles to love is fear, fear of what it will require of us.

Jesus understood this as he look down from the hillside toward Jerusalem and cried, "How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you would not let me."

With a lack of understanding that can also breed mistrust, Jerusalem's children turned from Jesus; their hearts too full of fear to embrace his Gospel of Love. Jesus saw in them what he still sees in us, people running from love and running over others in the flight.

"Fear not," said God to Abram, "I am your shield."

"Fear not," said Jesus, "Let your hearts not be troubled."

Still they ran, and still they run in what Pope John Paul II once referred to as a "culture of flight from God."

Fear can wrap its invasive tendrils around every part of our lives, constricting our growth and preventing us from giving fully of ourselves or being able to accept all that we are offered, by God or others. It is, as priest and author Father Anthony de Mello poses in his book Awareness, a waste of life. He writes, "An Italian poet said, 'We live in a flash of light; evening comes and it is night forever.' It's only a flash and we waste it. We waste it with our anxiety, our worries, our concerns, our burdens."

Surely, fear is an obstacle to the Christian life, but it is one that can be overcome with faith and a heart open to God.

As Pope John Paul II encouraged, "Do not be afraid! If you begin to lose courage, turn to Mary, Seat of Wisdom; with her at your side, you will never be afraid."

Contact

Diocese of Metuchen
http://www.diometuchen.org NJ, US
Mary Morrell - Associate Director, Office of Religion, 732 562.1990

Email

mmorrell@diometuchen.org

Keywords

Fear, obstacle, God, love

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