Question VIII: Whether gratuitous fear remains in heaven

It is indeed difficult to admit Fear in the Blessed, however holy it may be; and yet all the Scholastics admit it, lest they strip them of a signal gift of the Holy Spirit; so much so that Valentia calls it erroneous to deny it to the blessed, disp. 2, quest. 2, point 5; for it is said even in the Mass: The powers tremble. There are various ways of speaking, so that the motive of filial fear may be saved, which is flight from the Divine offense; for the blessed are impeccable.

The FIRST way of speaking is that of Suarez, disp. 1, sect. 4, num. 20: the gift of Fear remains in the Blessed in the manner in which infused Temperance and the other virtues, which remain in them, remain not only as to the habits but as to the simple acts of the will, by which they take complacency in their objects and their goodness, and detest the opposed uglinesses; for the hatred of evil is formally and explicitly love of the contrary good, e.g. hatred of darkness is love of Light, as Hurtado says, disputation 113, sect. 9; Caspensis subscribes, disp. 2, sect. 1, num. 10. Since, therefore, fear is hatred of sin or of punishments, it is formally love of the absence of punishments or of sin, which absence the Blessed love, but as a thing not contingent, since they are impeccable.

The SECOND way is that of Medina, cited in Caspensis, cited disputation: the Fear of the Lord in heaven loses the name of filial Fear, because sin is no longer found to be feared, neither as separation from God nor as offense against Him, and it takes the name of reverential fear, because in a new way it tends toward God.

The THIRD way is that of Cajetan and Bannes, cited article of St. Thomas: the reverential Fear in heaven looks upon the omnipotence of God, as able indeed to inflict evil, whether of punishment, by inflicting it, or of fault, by permitting it; but not as that He will actually inflict it. For thus they are cast down with a certain reverential fear. To this Valentia smiles assent, to be cited below.

The FOURTH way is that that fear of the blessed is not a flight, since they are no longer in the struggle, but a reverential pursuit, arising from consideration of their own smallness and of God's magnitude and justice, which could have punished, and yet had mercy, and rewards beyond what is deserved; and thus they prostrate themselves in reverence. Nor is it admiration, as Caspensis infers, num. 10, but profound humiliation, even if with admiration. Thus think, with St. Bonaventure here, St. Thomas in the body of the text, Valentia disp. 2, quest. 2, point 5.

THEREFORE I assert first, that filial Fear is in the Blessed.

IT IS PROVED by St. Bonaventure, first, from that passage of Psalm 18: The fear of the Lord is holy, enduring unto eternity of eternities.

SECONDLY, from that of Isaiah 11, where he says: The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him; the Spirit of Fear. But Christ was always a comprehensor.

THIRDLY, The fullness of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, Ecclesiasticus 1: therefore, since in the blessed there is the fullness of the perfection of wisdom, there will also be Fear.

FOURTHLY. As the highest love is owed to the highest goodness, so the highest reverential Fear is owed to the highest majesty.

FINALLY, in the body of the text, he hints at the testimonies of Scripture and of the Church asserting that this Fear is in the Angels. Thus in Apocalypse 14 and 15, Jeremiah 10, Job 26, and in the Preface of the Mass: The Powers tremble. Therefore our holy Doctors add, from St. Augustine 14 de civitate, chapter 9, and from Gregory, Book 7, Morals, chapter 15, to those words of Job 26: The pillars of heaven tremble, and are awed at his nod, that the filial fear of the way is different from that of heaven; and also that that fear in Christ was different from ours, which I shall show in Part 3, Tractate 1.

YOU OBJECT first. Hope is more perfect than Fear: but it does not remain in heaven: Therefore.

The holy Doctor ANSWERS that, with respect to the act of recoiling from evil, Hope is more perfect; but with respect to revering the supreme Majesty while recoiling into one's own smallness, the act of Fear is more excellent.

THE REST are resolved by the distinction between fleeing fear and revering fear.

MOST EXCELLENTLY, however, the holy Doctor discourses on this matter de septem Donis, On the Gift of Fear, chapter 2, where he also explains what fear is excluded from the perfection of charity on the way; he supposes, however, that word of the first John, chapter 4: Perfect charity casts out fear.

But he distinguishes the PERFECT of one sort by a perfection of necessity, who are in grace, of whom Deuteronomy 18: Thou shalt be perfect and without spot before the Lord; others by a perfection of excellence. St. Prosper distinguishes both, Book 3, de vita contemplativa, chapter 15. Those he calls perfect in excellence who hasten to the virtues with the greatest striving, of whom Bernard also says in his letters: And this Charity expels all their fear, which has pain. For what will Charity fear, says Gilbert, sermon 19 on the Canticles, of past offenses? For Charity covers a multitude of sins, from 1 Peter 4. What? The infirmity of conscience? It is strong as death, love, Canticles 8. What? Temporal troubles? Since even if they were eternal, consummated love could not be wearied or vanish? Not for this does Charity love, lest it perish, but rather it wishes the eternal to perish than to be deprived eternally of the use of internal love. If indeed a man shall give all his substance for charity, he shall as it were despise nothing of it; that is, substance.

He CONCLUDES that perfect and consummated Charity does not expel the most perfect filial fear, which is now almost love, since it has almost ceased to be fear, having nothing to fear, nor does it dread to offend. He says this fear is a reverence and a votive subjection; for there is a necessity of obeying, or of condition, but liberty of love knows no necessity.

SOME say, as Bernard, Book on the Love of God, toward the end, that filial Fear is increased as Charity is increased; and with Charity perfected, it will be perfected, and therefore it will have in heaven the very same act it now has; and they bring forward the authority of Augustine, Book 14, de civitate, chapter 9, where he says: That chaste Fear enduring unto eternity of eternities, if it shall be in the future age, will not be a fear terrifying from an evil that can happen, but holding itself in a good that cannot be taken away; and thus it will have another act than it now has. So St. Bonaventure. The reason of this is, that where the love of the good attained is immutable, certainly, if it can be said, the fear of avoiding evil is secure.

But MOST BEAUTIFULLY in chapter 3 he shows how the Fear of the Lord, like the Light of the first day, makes for us the Morning and the Dawn of the spiritual life, the Midday and the Evening, enduring unto eternity of eternities. See it.

NEXT, in chapter 4, he shows that the Fear of the Lord prepares for us a heavenly banquet, whence the psalmist exclaims, Psalm 30: How great is the multitude of thy sweetness, O Lord, which thou hast hidden for them that fear thee. Read it, I beseech thee, and thou shalt taste the delicacies of Paradise at his table.

But he relies on that of Ecclesiasticus 1 and Psalm 111: The beginning of wisdom, that is, of savory knowledge, is the Fear of the Lord; the Fear of the Lord shall delight the heart. See it.