Prayer For The Gift of Fear

Prayer For The Gift of Fear

Open your generous hand that fills all that has breath and blessing, and give me the gift of fear, which counters temptations of the flesh. Bounteously fill me with fear, so that, fearing future perils, I may draw near to God. Be to me as two feet, the right imbued with longing to be joined to God, the left filled with desire to flee the occasions of sin. Direct my goings according to your word, so that each- foot follows the other, advancing each in turn with an even tread. For in this way, my progress will be straight, turning neither to the right or to the left. This fear is the beginning of wisdom. Lacking this fear, our first parents did not recoil from the tasteless fruit, but stood, and looked, and touched, and tasted, yet did not find the taste for which they had hoped, but rather only bitterness.

O true Sweetness, I have stood and looked and touched and tasted in disobedience to your word as often as I have taken food or breath. If this is the way of my life, correct me, for I am dying by living in this way. I imagine that I am living by it, yet it is death to me. Give me, O Holy Spirit, your gift of fear. Deliver me from evil. It is evil only that makes slaves, so to be freed from evil is to be made free. O Spirit Liberator, deliver us from this slavery, and increase the goodness in us through the holiness of your spirit.

Amen.