Posted by Second Sunday after Pentecost/In Octave of Corpus Christi
Grant, O Lord, that we may have a perpetual fear and love of thy holy name; for thou never failest to direct and govern by thy grace, those whom thou bringest up in the stedfastness of thy love.
Today is the Second Sunday after Pentecost, the Sunday within the Octave of Corpus Christi, which we celebrated on Thursday. The Collect reminds us of the importance of having a perpetual fear and love of God’s holy name, for God never fails to direct and govern by his grace those whom he brings up in the stedfastness of his love. The Collects are one of the greatest attributes of the traditional Roman rite. They are both concise and to the point as well as expressing profound theological concepts, in particular the need to continually remind ourselves that we are dependent for our salvation on the grace of God. This has often been criticised in recent times as encouraging people to have a low self esteem, for this is an age when people are encouraged to think of themselves more highly than they ought. It is now said that these ancient prayers were a product of a society in which civilisation seemed to be in a state of collapse, as the Roman empire fell in the west before the barbarian incursions and the so called Dark Ages began. But this fact, far from being irrelevant to our present situation, has many parallels with it, for we too now seem to be living in a time when our civilisation seems to be in a similar state of collapse and there is no more reason to be optimistic about the state of the world now than it was then. We too need to take to heart the words of these ancient collects and learn to trust not in ourselves, but in God who never fails to direct and govern those whom he brings up in his stedfast fear and love.
But surely there is a contradiction in speaking of fear and love in the same context? Does not St. John state that perfect love casts out fear and that he that fears is not perfect in love. Why then does the Collect call us both to fear and love God? In order to answer this question it is necessary to recognise that the love that is spoken of by St. John is not our love for God, but God’s love for us, self sacrificial love, the charity that suffereth long and is kind, that vaunteth not itself, beareth all things, believeth all things and endureth all things, the love that is poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit that he has given us. The love of God is not a transient sentiment, but holy love, the burning fire of the divine compassion that is in such stark contrast to our own transient desires. The fire of the divine love inspires both comfort and terror in us, when we realise how much we have sinned and fallen short of the divine love. It was this that confronted Isaiah in the temple and and led him to state “Woe is me, for I am undone, for I am a man of unclean lips, and mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of Hosts.” It is the contrast between the divine love and our own human love that inspires fear. Dostoyevsky described hell as the absence of love, the world of human pride, of man turned inward upon himself, to whom the divine love is a flame not of light and bliss, but of torment. Hence, in one sense, perfect love does indeed cast out fear, the fear of being tormented by the divine love, but it does not cast out godly fear, the reverence which we should all have for the divine love, that both judges and saves us and does for us what we cannot by our own natural strength achieve for ourselves.
Our Christian forbears in the so called ages of faith seem to have had a very developed sense of fear. Sometimes they were motivated to do good more by fear of hell that gratitude for the divine forgiveness. This often led to infrequent communion, as the faithful were sufficiently conscious that they were not leading holy lives to fear to partake of the sacrament very often. They were mindful of St. Paul’s warning of eating and drinking judgement upon themselves. Sometimes this sense of fear was exaggerated and the Church failed to truly manifest the nature of the divine charity that casts our fear.
By contrast today there is a tendency to go to the opposite extreme and to downplay the concept of reverence and godly fear. It is said that God accepts us as we are and so we should not fear to receive communion on a regular basis, even if our lifestyles are at odds with how our faith teaches us that we should live. But those who say this need to remember that the divine charity is not a sentimental sense of niceness, but sacrificial love, a burning fire that cleanses us and transforms us. It is the nature of the divine charity to accept us just as we are, not that we loved God, but that he loved us. But it is also the nature of the divine charity to transform us so that we die to sin and live to righteousness, that we learn to love one another, not in word and in tongue, but in deed and in truth. Actions speak more powerfully than words, and unless we show forth in our lives the nature of the divine charity the flames of the divine love will remain flames of torment rather than bliss.
It is important to remember the message of today’s Gospel, that all are invited to share in the messianic banquet, but so many of us exclude ourselves by allowing our lives to be taken up by other things. We need to remember that the divine charity is not a transient sentiment but holy love, that invites all, but does not compel us to obey. If we reject it we condemn ourselves. Mindful of this, let us pray that we will have perpetual fear and love of God’s holy name.