Today, which is Trinity Sunday, and the Octave day of Pentecost, we conclude our consideration of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit by looking at: the Gift of the Fear of the Lord.
The Catechism, referring to Isaiah, lists the Gifts thus: "The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord." (CCC1831)
St. Thomas Aquinas notes that fear is among three of the gifts that belong especially to the "appetite," rather than directly to reason: "For, seeing that of the seven gifts...three [belong] to the appetite, viz. fortitude, piety and fear" (STh, I-II, q. 68, a. 1)
Of the Gift of Fear, the Angelic Doctor says, "the gifts of the Holy Ghost are certain habitual perfections of the soul's powers, whereby these are rendered amenable to the motion of the Holy Ghost, just as, by the moral virtues, the appetitive powers are rendered amenable to the motion of reason. Now for a thing to be amenable to the motion of a certain mover, the first condition required is that it be a non-resistant subject of that mover, because resistance of the movable subject to the mover hinders the movement. This is what filial or chaste fear does, since thereby we revere God and avoid separating ourselves from Him. Hence, according to Augustine (De Serm. Dom. in Monte i, 4) filial fear holds the first place, as it were, among the gifts of the Holy Ghost, in the ascending order, and the last place, in the descending order." (STh, II-II, q. 19, a. 9) Further, he mentions of this gift in his introduction to the gifts that, "The appetitive power [is perfected] against inordinate lust for pleasures, by 'fear.'" (STh, I-II, q. 68, a. 4)
John of St. Thomas, for his own part, especially associates this gift with the cardinal virtue of temperance, noting that, "....the gift of fear is that fear which is filial and chaste, since it is founded upon charity, reveres God as Father and dreads to be separated from Him by sin...the gift of fear corresponds to temperance, and yet it produces its effect in a way far greater than termperance. There are no difficulties about the fact that the formal aspect of fear is distinct from that of temperance. From a reverence for God and a flight from sin fear proceeds to repress the rising passions which deviate from reason, especially licentiousness." (Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Ch. VI, 47 & 48)
St. Thomas Aquinas associates the Gift of Fear with the theological virtue of Hope. John of St. Thomas notes this, in his Introduction to the Summa Theologiae: "...the Gift of the Holy Spirit corresponding to hope [is], namely, the gift of fear. This is a filial fear, Saint Thomas explains, and is to be distinguished from mundane or servile fear, which is contrary to it, since mundane fear is evil, fearing to lose worldly things even when they are against God...servile fear fears to lose God because of punishment, but filial fear because of himself and because of guilt." (Commenting on STh, II-II, q. 19 of Aquinas)
St. Augustine of Hippo, in On the Sermon on the Mount, associates the Gift of Fear with the first Beatitude, explaining, "The fear of God corresponds to the humble, of whom it is here said, Blessed are the poor in spirit, i.e. those not puffed up, not proud: to whom the apostle says, Be not high-minded, but fear; i.e. be not lifted up." (Book I, chapter 4, 11)
St. Thomas Aquinas explains, thus: "Poverty of spirit properly corresponds to fear. Because, since it belongs to filial fear to show reverence and submission to God, whatever results from this submission belongs to the gift of fear. Now from the very fact that a man submits to God, it follows that he ceases to seek greatness either in himself or in another but seeks it only in God. For that would be inconsistent with perfect subjection to God, wherefore it is written (Ps. 19:8): "Some trust in chariots and some in horses; but we will call upon the name of . . . our God." It follows that if a man fear God perfectly, he does not, by pride, seek greatness either in himself or in external goods, viz. honors and riches. In either case, this proceeds from poverty of spirit, in so far as the latter denotes either the voiding of a puffed up and proud spirit, according to Augustine's interpretation (De Serm. Dom. in Monte i, 4), or the renunciation of worldly goods which is done in spirit, i.e. by one's own will, through the instigation of the Holy Spirit, according to the expounding of Ambrose on Lk. 6:20 and Jerome on Mt. 5:3." (STh, II-II, q. 19, a. 12)
John of St. Thomas associates the Beatitude of the poverty of spirit with a rather obvious detachment from material goods: "The first beatitude, poverty of spirit, removes the inordinate love of riches, so that man will not place his heart or his happiness in them." As it is not paired with a Gift of the Holy Spirit, the eighth Beatitude is worth mention, too, as it is treated in the same paragraph by John of St. Thomas: "The eighth beatitude, 'blessed are those who suffer persecutions,' removes desires of human favor and applause." (Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Ch. IX, 3)
Hence, for John of St. Thomas, the Beatitudes systematically perfect man in the different aspects of his nature:
"3. The first three beatitudes and the last one are related to the eliminating of false happiness...The first beatitude, poverty of spirit, removes the inordinate love of riches, so that man will not place his heart or his happiness in them. The second, 'blessed are the meek,' removes the inordinate passions of the irascible part of the soul, so that men will not place their end in winning victory and taking vengeance on their enemies. The third, 'blessed are those who mourn,' removed the inordinate passions of delight and joy in which many, 'whose god is their stomach,' place their last end. The eighth beatitude, 'blessed are those who suffer persecutions,' removes desires of human favor and applause....
4. The fourth and fifth beatitudes are ordained to the attainment of true beatitude through the works of the active life. The fourth beatitude is a thirst and hunger after justice -- a giving to each his due with a burning heart. The fifth beatitude, 'blessed are the merciful,' gives justice and mercy and alms to friends, neighbours, foreigners and enemies.
5. The sixth and seventh beatitudes are ordered to the attainment of beatitude through the contemplative life. The sixth beatitude is the cleansing of the heart through purity. Without it contemplation is impossible. 'Blessed are the pure of heart.' The peace which surpasses all sense and inebriates the spirit is a work of justice -- 'Blessed are the peacemakers.'"(Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Ch. IX, 3-5)
On this Trinity, let us pray for the Gift of Fear and poverty of Spirit!
Veni, Sancte Spiritus! Live well!
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