Holy Fear

Dom Gueranger on Fear of the Lord:

The spirit of independence and false liberty, which is nowadays so rife amongst us, is a great enemy to the fear of God; and one of the miseries of our age is that there is little fear of God. Familiarity with God but too frequently usurps the place of that essential basis of the Christian life. The result is that there is no progress in virtue, such people are a prey to illusion; and the sacraments, which frequently worked so powerfully in their souls, are now well-nigh unproductive. The reason is that the gift of fear has been superseded by a conceited self-complacency. Humility has no further sway; a secret and habitual pride has paralyzed the soul and seeing that these people scout the very idea of their ever trembling before the great God of heaven, we may well ask them if they know who God is.

~Abbot Gueranger's The Liturgical Year, Vol IX, p.334