Catechesis
Christ offers himself to us
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by Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe, Bishop
The animal sacrifices which our ancestors were commanded to offer by the Holy Trinity to God, the one God of the Old and New Testaments, represented the most acceptable gift of all. This was the offering which the Only Begotten of God, in his compassion, made from himself into human nature for us.
The apostle teaches that Christ gave himself up in our place as a fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God (Ephesians 5:2). He is the true God and the true priest, who once entered the holy of holies for us, not with the blood of bulls and goats, but with his blood. This was foreshadowed by the ancient high priest when every year he took blood and entered the holy of holies.
It is Christ, then, who embodies in himself alone all that he knew was necessary to achieve our redemption. He is at once the priest and the sacrifice, God and the temple. It is the priest by whom we are reconciled, the sacrifice in which we are reconciled, the temple in which we are reconciled, the God with whom we are reconciled. There is only the priest, the sacrifice, and the temple because all these things are like God in the form of a servant; but he is not alone as God, for this is with the Father and the Holy Spirit in the form of God.
Hold on to this and never doubt: the only begotten Son, God the Word, became man and offered Himself as an offering and sacrifice to God for us. In the times of the Old Testament, the patriarch, the prophet and the elders sacrificed animals in his honour and the honour of the Father and the Holy Spirit. But in the time of the New Testament, the holy Catholic Church throughout the world does not cease to offer the sacrifice of bread and wine in faith and love, to herself and the Father and the Holy Spirit, with whom she shares one deity.
That animal sacrifice represented the flesh of Christ, which he would offer for our sins, himself without sin, and the blood which he would shed for the remission of sins. In this sacrifice, there is an act of thanksgiving and a commemoration, of the flesh of Christ, which he offered for us, and the blood, which the same God shed for us. Saint Paul says about this in the Acts of the Apostles: Be on your guard for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you the overseers, to feed the Church of God which he bought with his blood (Acts 20:28).
Those sacrifices in ancient times meant what we had to give. In this sacrifice, we see what has already been given to us. Those sacrifices foreshadowed the death of the Son of God for sinners. In this sacrifice, it is preached that he was already slain for sinners, as the apostle testifies: When we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, we were still enemies; now that we have been reconciled, surely we may count on being saved by the life of his Son (Romans 5:10).
Fear of God
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The phrase "fear of God" or "fear God" has often been misunderstood. Here is a meditation from the fourth century which clarifies the matter. It is from the fourth century by St. Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers, France. He explains that the fear of God is something to be attained thanks to a path taken towards it. This path is a life which values and seeks wisdom above everything else.
"The Meaning of the Fear of the Lord" by St. Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers
"Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways" (Ps. 128:1). Notice that when Scripture speaks of the fear of the Lord it does not leave the phrase in isolation, as if it were a complete summary of faith. No, many things are added to it or are presupposed by it. From there, we may learn its meaning and excellence. In the book of Proverbs Solomon tells us: "if your plea is for clear perception, if you cry out for discernment, if you look for it as if it were silver, and search for it as for buried treasure, you will then understand what the fear of the Lord is, and discover the knowledge of God" (Proverbs 2:3-5). We see here the difficult journey we must undertake before we can arrive at the fear of the Lord.
We must begin by crying out for wisdom. We must hand over to our intellect the duty of making every decision. We must look for wisdom and search for it. Then we must understand the fear of the Lord.
“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 terror with them.
But of the fear of the Lord this is what is written: "Come, my sons, listen to me, I will teach you the fear of the Lord" (Ps. 34:11). 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 responsibility: to observe his counsels, to obey his laws, and to trust his promises. Let us hear what Scripture says: "And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you? Only this: to fear the Lord our God, to follow all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, to keep the commandments and laws of the Lord that for your good I lay down for you today" (Deuteronomy 10:12-13).
The ways of the Lord are many, though he is himself the way. When he speaks of himself he calls himself the way and shows us the reason why he called himself the way: "No one can come to the Father except through me" (John 14:6).
We must ask for these many ways, we must travel along these many ways, to find the good one. That is, we shall find the one way of eternal life through the guidance of many teachers. These ways are found in the law, in the prophets, in the gospels, in the writings of the apostles, and in the different good works by which we fulfil the commandments. Blessed are those who walk these ways in the fear of the Lord.