Tag Archives: Reflections

Fear of the Lord – St. Hilary

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From the Office of the Day – St Hilary, Early Church Father & Doctor of the Church:


“Fear” is not to be taken in the sense that common usage gives it. Fear in this ordinary sense is the trepidation our weak humanity feels when it is afraid of suffering something it does not want to happen. We are afraid, or made afraid, because of a guilty conscience, the rights of someone more powerful, an attack from one who is stronger, sickness, encountering a wild beast, suffering evil in any form. This kind of fear is not taught: it happens because we are weak. We do not have to learn what we should fear: objects of fear bring their own terror with them.
From the Office of the Day – But of the fear of the Lord this is what is written: Come, my children, listen to me, I shall teach you the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord has then to be learned because it can be taught. It does not lie in terror, but in something that can be taught. It does not arise from the fearfulness of our nature; it has to be acquired by obedience to the commandments, by holiness of life and by knowledge of the truth.


For us the fear of God consists wholly in love, and perfect love of God brings our fear of him to its perfection. Our love for God is entrusted with its own responsibility: to observe his counsels, to obey his laws, to trust his promises.

Comfort, Give Comfort

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Isaiah speaks the words I need to hear this morning.

Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God.

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated; Indeed, she has received from the hand of the Lord double for all her sins. Isaiah 40: 1

The day is new and as they say” hope springs eternal.” The world has definitely been heavy on my mind. I need to turn the page if only at the beginning of this day.

Hope springs eternal in the human breast:

Man never is, but always to be blest:

The soul, uneasy and confin’d from home,

Rests and expatiates in a life to come. (Alexander Pope – An Essay on Man)

This is a gift to myself today.  It speaks to the heart of love and memory that even crosses the line between Man and Beast.

Have a wonderful day!

Lenten Reflection

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Trying to regain some balance.


From Whispers in the Loggia:

“Whatever the case, though, what matters isn’t the achievement, but the effort… not so much the accomplishment as the courage to try, and especially to try again, and again, and again.”

From Amy’s Via Media:

“The incarnation of God in Christ has so closely linked the two together–judgment and grace–that justice is firmly established: we all work out our salvation “with fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12). Nevertheless grace allows us all to hope, and to go trustfully to meet the Judge whom we know as our “advocate.” 1 Jn 2:1).”

From cause of our joy:

“St Paul says we should brag about nothing but the cross of Christ. so please indulge me while I brag about the itty bitty splinters of His cross which help me remember my place.
At the foot of the Cross.”

From: The Practicing Catholic

Nehemiah 8:9,10

Today is holy to the Lord your God.  Do not be sad, and do not weep; for today is holy to our Lord.  Do not be saddened this day, for rejoicing in the Lord must be your strength!

Understanding Only Now

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Writing as she must because that’s just the way she is and she just has to….Amy Welborn shares from the bottom of her heart and from the pain of her grief. I don’t like prying into someone’s soul, so I’m one who waits for words to be forthcoming to help me understand the meaning of a look, action, or a time of life.

Amy has a way of revealing the very real with a sympathy for herself, as though she were just watching instead of living it.  Thank you, Amy. I don’t understand the way you do now, but I understand as a friend can from a safe distance.

Amy writes:

“I understand how, if one had been married for decades and decades, the death of a spouse would just take it all out of you and propel you on the same road. I felt it very strongly that first day  – a sense that I do not want to be here, that I would rather be with him, I would rather just follow than stick out another day here. I understand how married people die within days of each other.”

Remember Me

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Paraphrasing Rev. Fr. Michael DePalma:

In life, it’s not how you begin.  It’s how you end.

How will you be remembered?  More importantly, how will The Father remember you?

Begin today to become a beautiful remembrance in the mind of God.


Our Day of Judgment should be our Day of Glory!


All Chatter

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How can I be an emptiness that beckons You enter,

if all I am is chatter?

Give my Your silence, Your “Be still,”

that You may come to me.