Christmas Weekday
(I John 4:11-18; Mark 6:45-52)
The Renaissance political thinker Niccolo Machiavelli
famously compared fear and love. He said
that for a leader it is good to be both loved and feared. But, he added, if a leader had to choose one,
it is better to be feared than loved.
Fear touches most people more deeply than any other emotion. It more likely makes a person submit to authority. Yet both readings today at least hint that God
wants to be loved, not feared.
The first reading from I John says that perfect love
casts out fear. It means that when one
really loves God, she has nothing to fear.
God will meet all her needs. In
the gospel reading the disciples are terrified when they see what appears to
them as a ghost. Despite knowing Jesus, their
love for God is still shallow. They lack
the Holy Spirit. They cannot yet
appreciate that God will meet their every need when they trust Him.
We have received the Holy Spirit through the
sacraments. Yet our love is often meager
and our fear substantial. As a surgeon has
to perform an operation dozens of times before he perfects his skill, we need
to practice loving God continually. By
prayer, fasting, and study we will come to know God and to love Him. Then we will fear minimally if at all.
