fear of the lord


	This column is the bishop’s communication with the faithful of the Diocese of Madison. Any wider circulation reaches beyond the intention of the bishop.

Dear Friends,

Last week I joined with a group of faithful men for their monthly time of prayer and spiritual reflection. With them I focused upon the seventh gift of the Holy Spirit, and I’d like to do the same with you here.

Hopefully you recall the gifts of the Holy Spirit. So many of us older folks have them memorized while unfortunately, some of the middle-aged and younger don’t even know that they have access to such gifts.

The gifts are: wisdom, understanding, council, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and Fear of the Lord. All of these gifts belong to the Christian first by way of their Baptism, and especially by the special outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Confirmation.

If we use them and count upon them, these gifts help to perfect virtues in us and aid us in living the moral life and in obeying divine inspiration in our life.

While it’s likely that all of us could use a refresher on every one of these tremendous gifts, I want to focus on that seventh gift at the moment: Fear of the Lord. Perhaps the timing will seem odd, because we’re getting ready to commemorate the coming of God into the world as a tiny baby, but Fear of the Lord properly understood, dovetails perfectly with God’s plan for our salvation, and I hope to help you understand why.