The Point of Greatest Fear, by Elizabeth A. Mitchell

St. Joseph, Proclaimed Patron of the Universal Church 150 Years Ago, Is Needed More Than Ever, by Joseph Pronechen
December 5, 2020
Daily Scripture Reading and Meditation: The Kingdom of Heaven Is at Hand
December 5, 2020

*Image: Virgin and Child in Majesty by Duccio di Buoninsegna, 1308-11 [Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Siena, Italy]. This is the center-front panel of Duccio’s Maestà Altarpiece.

By Elizabeth A. Mitchell, The Catholic Thing, Dec. 5, 2020

Dr. Elizabeth A. Mitchell, S.C.D., received her doctorate in Institutional Social Communications from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome where she worked as a translator for the Holy See Press Office and L’Osservatore Romano.  ….

Note: The days grow short for this year-end funding drive. To resist the pandemic of craziness, we only have each other. So it comes down to the question: Are you with us or not? Click the button. Support TCT in 2021. – Robert Royal

 

Elizabeth A. MitchellA few years ago, I attended a Mass at which the homilist was a newly ordained young Jesuit.  The homily was his first sermon, and I assume that the Lord gives a profound anointing to a priest’s first sermon.  I never learned the priest’s name, or spoke a word to him, but the sermon he preached on that occasion has affected me every day since.

In clear and unequivocal tones, the young priest stated, “God wants to meet you at the point of your greatest fear.”  Go, he explained, to the point of your greatest fear, in your mind and heart, and God will meet you there.  When He meets you there, tell Him about the fear, and He will help you there.

Those words struck me in my core.  I had to admit that although I had consecrated my life to Jesus through His Blessed Mother, and was on intimate terms with a number of saints, St. Thérèse of Lisieux in particular, I tended to avoid meeting God directly.  I kept Him at arms’ length, in the safe and superficial distance.  …