Fear of the Lord

Nothing seems the same anymore. And by that I mean even small daily decisions have become complicated and fear is today’s byword.  Nowhere is safe and anyone we meet might be carrying illness and death on their hands.  In this upside-down world our very breath, without which we cannot live, has become the destroyer.

One does not emerge from a crisis the same as before.  We emerge from a crisis either better or worse than before.  It is up to us to choose (Pope Francis, General Audience 2 September 2020).

Governments around the world are using the fear of death to change the behavior of their citizens and are finding it difficult to get the right balance.  Too much and the economy shuts down, too little and the health service is overwhelmed and thousands die.  Still, some things have not changed.  Life is still precious and death is still inevitable. Individuals are struggling to find the right measure of caution. For some, fear is a new feeling, unpleasant, and unfamiliar.  They are embarrassed and confused by their self-perceived cowardice.

What is the difference between cowardice and fear?  The Gospels tell us that on the night before he died, Jesus “was in such agony and he prayed so fervently that his sweat became like drops of blood falling on the ground.” (Luke 22:44). As a human being, he felt fear that as God he would not have felt. Human beings fear the unknown – God knows all.  We fear change – God is eternal and does not change. We fear pain – God is spirit and feels no pain.

Every detail of Jesus’ life in the Gospels is there for a reason. Could we really believe Jesus was fully human if he had not felt and shown fear, knowing that he was so soon to be tortured and crucified? Wouldn’t it seem cowardice in our eyes if Jesus, God-made-man, had not suffered the human anguish and terror of Gethsemane? Could we love and follow and even die for him if when he came to share our life he was less than completely human? Would we want to do so? Probably not. Might we say instead, “We are not spared terror in our lives, why were you?” or “What’s the matter… can’t take it?”

Jesus, as the perfect human being indeed could “take it.”  He was not spared the fear and pain of being human in this fallen world, instead, he shared it. God loves us so much that when he became fully human it was 100%.  The good and the bad.  The best and the worst and no one could ever say Jesus was a coward because he had been afraid. And so now we’re back to the question – what is the difference between cowardice and fear? Fear has faith, cowardice does not.

Thus we may say with confidence: “The Lord is my helper, (and) I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me? (Hebrews 13:6).

You fear and still proceed because you have faith.  Trust.  A confidence, perhaps beyond words, that as a disciple of God if something is happening it must be for a reason.  You have an acceptance of God’s will.  A confidence, however faint and shadowy, that whatever happens God is always in charge and one way or another the right thing will happen because it is his will.

The angels of God in the Old Testament and God himself in the New Testament told his prophets and disciples to ‘fear not’ as he sent them on their missions.  They met opposition but did not allow fear to stop their work because the Spirit of God was with them.

Much of the language and thinking of our faith is rooted in two ancient cultures – Semitic and Roman – with strong patriarchal traditions and emphasis on duty and law.  Yet from those sources, Jesus Christ, God-made-man, gave us the Catholic faith based on the law of Love.  Isaiah describes the Messiah, saying:

But a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse,

and from his roots a bud shall blossom.

The spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him:

a spirit of wisdom and of understanding,

A spirit of counsel and of strength,

a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the LORD,

and his delight shall be the fear of the LORD (Isaiah 11:1-3).

How does fear of the Lord fit into our daily lives? We are each given the gifts of the Holy Spirit which are strengthened at Confirmation. These gifts help us by completing and perfecting the virtues needed for us to become more like Christ. It is unfortunate the word “fear” is used since it now usually means fear of man or the fear of danger.  The prophet Elijah lived in fear of the Lord.  When he was waiting for God to pass by, he knew God was not in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire.  It was only when Elijah heard a tiny, whispering sound that he stepped outside, knowing he was going to meet the Lord (1 Kings 19:9-12).

And yet what does it mean when Isaiah gives special emphasis to the final gift “his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord”? If you love your parents or your spouse, you do not want to do things that will disappoint or hurt them.  In a similar way, since we love God, we do not want to disappoint him. Delight in the fear of the Lord is using our free will to make choices informed by God’s teachings, knowing ultimately our home is in heaven.

Fear of the Lord allows us to be aware that everything comes from grace and that our true strength lies solely in following the Lord Jesus and in allowing the Father to bestow upon us his goodness and his mercy (Pope Francis General Audience St. Peter’s Square Wednesday, 11 June 2014).

Such a man was Father Thomas Byles, a parish priest at my small rural church in 1905.  Father Byles and his younger brother, William, had been raised in the Nonconformist tradition and converted to Catholicism as adults.  Both brothers had wanted to be priests, but William discovered it was not his vocation. Father Byles’ path to priesthood was lengthy because it was repeatedly interrupted by ill health.  By the time he came to Ongar he was 35 years old. The mission, as it was then, was so poor it was difficult for a priest to be supported.  There was no choir, only Sunday Mass, no lessons for children, and no census of parishioners.

Although he was not strong or robust, Father Byles worked tirelessly for his far-flung parish. In just a few years Father Byles’ labor bore much fruit. He was well known and admired.  The number of parishioners increased while he worked tirelessly to teach and care for the members of his parish and gain converts to the faith. He cycled many miles to visit parishioners and teach the children their catechism at home. He also counselled and consoled the Catholics in the workhouses and tutored the Catholic children in a truant school nearby.  Father Byles was a strong advocate of the new “Boy Scouts” and was a certificated First Aider by the British Red Cross. Hearing that the young men of the village were interested in the new sport of boxing, he taught them how to box in a large shed behind the church.

He most likely imagined spending the rest of his life hidden away from the eyes of men toiling in a small, unknown vineyard of the Lord deep in the Essex countryside. God had other plans. It was to officiate at his brother’s wedding in New York that Father Thomas Byles was on the Titanic.

Fear not, I am with you; be not dismayed; I am your God. I will strengthen you, and help you, and uphold you with my right hand of justice. (Isaiah 41:10)

Most of the Catholics on board the Titanic were in steerage, this is how they knew Father Byles. They were able to hear Mass because he had brought with him a portable altar and the other items required.  In his last homily, warning of the temptations to be faced in their new lives in America he spoke of, “the necessity of people having a lifeboat in the shape of religious consolation at hand in case of spiritual shipwreck.”  The night of 14-15 April Father Byles led steerage passengers up to the boat deck and helped many women and children onto lifeboats as “he whispered to them words of comfort and encouragement.” (Miss Bertha Bridget Moran, quoted in New York World, 22 April 1912). He refused a space on a lifeboat twice, instead, he stayed on-board the ship and provided consolation for hundreds of passengers by granting absolution, leading them in praying the Rosary, and preparing the people for heaven. Of the survivors there were many eyewitnesses to the heroism and pastoral care he gave:

Father Byles moved about among the crowd from group to group giving absolution (without confession) and starting all Catholics on the Rosary.  The sailors wanted to put him into a lifeboat, but he refused, and went on with his work (www.fatherbyles.com).

Another eyewitness stated,

He had declined the offer of a lifebelt in favor of another passenger.  It was then that Father Byles stepped back into the cabin where he knelt down with a group of Irish immigrants, seamen and stokers, gave conditional absolution to all and recited the rosary (Newark Evening News, 23 April 1912).

Lastly, from an obituary published two months later:

His friends, who knew his indomitable spirit, felt that the great catastrophe, in which he made so brave an end, gave him in death the chance that life withheld, by revealing the heroism that was in him.(Wanganui Chronicle 6 June 1912, p.3).

There is a stained glass window inside St Helen’s church commemorating the heroism of Father Byles.  The three “lights” (or parts) of the window show from left to right: St Patrick (Patron Saint of Ireland, where the Titanic was built), Christ the Good Shepherd (recalling Father Byles’ priestly sacrifice), and St Thomas Aquinas (Father Thomas’s patron at baptism). The window bears the inscription:

Pray for the Rev. Thomas Byles for 8 years Rector of this Mission, whose heroic death in the disaster of SS Titanic April 15 1912, earnestly devoting his last moments to the religious consolation of his fellow passengers, this window commemorates.

Father Byles, when he led people in prayer as the Titanic sank, must have felt fear – it was a terrifying situation.  By refusing a place on a lifeboat not only once, but twice he showed he was not a coward. Love for his fellow passengers care for their souls, and fear of the Lord was stronger than the fear of his own death.  Believing wholeheartedly in the teachings of Christ, the love of God, and the promises of heaven, Father Byles shows us that fear of the Lord perfects the virtue of hope.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him (Psalm 103:11).

Note: Details of the life of Father Byles, descriptions and quotations of the sinking of the Titanic and the actions of Father Byles are taken from “Father Thomas Byles: A Hero of the Titanic” by Father Stewart Foster, Brentwood Diocesan Archives, 2018.