Tuesday in The Week of The 5th Sunday of Easter (05/12/09)

There is no fear in love, but perfect ove casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.

--1 John 4:18

Try this one out: Fear knocked on the door. Faith answered. No one was there!

Fear is mentioned in our reading. This business of no fear in love stops us dead in our tracks. There must be some sort of fear in love. For instance, you love someone and you're afraid that you might lose them. A classic example is that of the women who went to the tomb on that first Easter Sunday. They loved Jesus, and their worst fears were realized. He was crucified. They went to that tomb to perform a last labor of love. But perfect love -- that is, Jesus Christ! -- cast out their fear.

Fear has to do with punishment says St. John. I suppose that most folks have tried to avoid punishment at least once -- and maybe more times than that! Punishment is no fun. Somewhere, down deep in our bones, we know we are answerable to someone. We may have convinced ourselves, through constant denial, that this isn't so. But when something negative happens to someone we care about, then the perpetrators most definitely have something to answer for. Why shouldn't we?

When fear knocks on our door, who will answer? Will we seek escape? That would only create more fear. The other option is to let Jesus answer. He is the epitome of perfect love.

Have we reached perfection in love? No. But, with Jesus, we seek progress in love. That seeking is the most difficult yet wonderful endeavor of life!


PD