Fear of the Lord

JMJ

While I understand that no one enters Heaven walking backwards, away from Hell, I don't hold with the following:

Pope Francis on Sunday cautioned against having a “mistaken” idea of God as harsh and punishing, saying this fear will end up paralyzing us and preventing us from doing good, rather than spreading his love and mercy.
“Fear always immobilizes and often leads us to make bad choices,” the Pope said Nov. 19. “Fear discourages us from taking the initiative, and encourages us to seek refuge in safe and guaranteed solutions, and so we end up doing nothing good.”
To go forward and grow on the path of life, he said, “we must not be afraid, but we have to trust.”
Source: EWTN

Maybe I'm splitting hairs, but fear of offending God is not a bad thing.

I did a quick search on Google - Douay-Rheims Fear of the Lord

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
Book of Proverbs - Ch 1

Be not wise in thy own conceit: fear God, and depart from evil:
Book of Proverbs - Ch 3

The fear of the Lord hateth evil
Book of Proverbs - Ch 8

Better is a little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasures without content,
Book of Proverbs - Ch 15

By mercy and truth iniquity is redeemed: and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil.
Book of Proverbs - Ch 16

The fruit of humility is the fear of the Lord, riches and glory and life.
Book of Proverbs - Ch 22

Let all the earth fear the Lord, and let all the inhabitants of the world be in awe of him.
Book of Psalms - Psalm 32

The angel of the Lord shall encamp round about them that fear him: and shall deliver them. [9] O taste, and see that the Lord is sweet: blessed is the man that hopeth in him. [10] Fear the Lord, all ye his saints: for there is no want to them ...
Book of Psalms - Psalm 33

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
Book of Psalms - Psalm 110

All wisdom is from God, and is given to them that fear and love God.
Ecclesiasticus - Ch 1

Then we have the following:

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Epistle Of Saint Paul To The Hebrews - Ch 10

Still think that fear is always a bad thing?

Fear for the Pope, because if he does not fear the Lord, then he is personally in great peril and will wreak even greater havoc on the Church.

P^3

Comments

A Look Back: A short history of the SSPX

+ JMJ I started a timeline a while back but never finished it. Fortunately, here's one that brings us up to 1994!!! P^3 http://archives.sspx.org/SSPX_FAQs/a_short_history_of_the_sspx-part-1.htm A short history of the SSPX A presentation given by Fr. Ramon Angles in Kansas City, MO, on the 25th Anniversary of the founding of the SSPX and reprinted from the January 1996 issue of The Angelus . Part 1 The history of the Society of St. Pius X begins, of course, in the mind of God. But do not believe that its temporal origin is to be found solely at the time of the post-conciliar crisis. The Society of St. Pius X was made possible ...

Hermeneutic of the Hermeneutic of Continuity - sspx.org

+ JMJ Since I'm looking at the 'four things', I thought this article would be good. Unfortunately, with the new SSPX.org website, I've been unable to locate the original article. This is a copy the I emailed to myself. This is an article that, I believe, was written in response to a conference given by Msgr. Pozzo. P^3

SSPX and the Resistance - A Comparison Of Ecclesiology

Shining the light of Church Teaching on the doctrinal positions of the SSPX and the Resistance. Principles are guides used to aid in decision making. It stands to reason that bad principles will lead to bad decisions. The recent interactions between Rome and the SSPX has challenged a number of closely held cultural assumptions of people in both sides of the disagreement. This has resulted in cultural skirmishes in both Rome and the SSPX. Since it is the smaller of the two, the skirmishes have been more evident within the SSPX. The cultural fault-line that Bishop Fellay crossed appears to be linked to two points of Catholic Doctrine: Ecclesiology and Obedience. The cultural difference of view points is strong enough that it has resulted in the expulsion of a number of members. It should also be noted that some other priests expelled since the beginning of the latest interactions (starting in 2000) held the same view points and have joined with the l...

Morning and Evening and other sundry Prayers

+ JMJ Along the theme of P^3 (Prayer, Penance, Patience), and for my own reference ... here is a collection of Morning and Evening prayers from the Ideal Daily Missal along with some additional prayers. In this crisis of the Church, I do not think it is possible to do too much prayer, penance and have patience. P^3

Dogmas of the Catholic Faith (de fide) - Expanded Listing: Answer for Reader

+ JMJ A reader asked the following question in the 2015 version of the article on the Dogmas of the Catholic Faith (link) : 117: "In the state of fallen nature it is morally impossible for man without Supernatural Revelation, to know easily, with absolute certainty and without admixture of error, all religious and moral truths of the natural order." Where can you find this in the documents of the Church? ( Link to comment ) Here's the reference from Ott: The citation that Ott provided was Denzinger 1786 and the source document is Dogmatic Consitution Concerning the Faith from the First Vatican Council (Papal Encyclicals - link) : Chapter 2 On Revelation, Article 3: It is indeed thanks to this divine revelation , that those matters concerning God, which are not of themselves beyond the scope of human reason, can, even in the present state of the human race, be known by everyone, without difficulty, with firm certitude and with no intermingling of error. Here's ...

Tradicat

Search This Blog