The Lord is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear?
(Psalm 27:1a)

Since the middle of July, I have seen stores display and sell articles related to Halloween. My childhood Halloween celebrations of dressing up to go "trick or treating" in homemade costumes, taking hayrides, and attending parties to bob for apples while my parents stayed home are definitely a thing of the past. The marketplace has seen that adults, and children, delight in celebrating a time to scare themselves and others. The array of ghoulish masks, bony skeleton heads, bloody fiction books, etc. increases annually. Today, fear seems to be the dominant element in Halloween costumes and decorations.

If you are looking for something frightening to do this Halloween season, pray - don't just recite - the Lord's Prayer. Within it is a terrifying petition - forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

To pray this takes a lot of nerve. Are we really brave enough to ask our Lord to treat us as we treat those we believe have trespassed against us?

Think about it. Do we really want God to have the same amount of patience with us that we have with those we encounter? Are we praying that our Lord will show us the same amount of anger that we have carried against others when they did something we didn't like? Do we really want God to scheme and get even with us the way we schemed when we were wronged? Do we want God to hate us the way we hate someone? Should God practice malice against us when we cause harm to another? Are we asking God to refuse to forgive us as we have refused to forgive the person who hurt us?

Go back to the top of this reflection and read the verse from Psalm 27. The answer to the question posed by the psalmist is really, really scary - even terrifying! All we have to do is look in a mirror to see whom to fear.

We can, however, draw comfort from one of the messages from St Paul. He reminds us that we should continue to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in us to will and to act according to his good purpose. (Philippians 2:12b-13)

Lord, help me to live in such a way that asking you to forgive my trespasses in the manner in which I respond to those who trespass against me is a comfort rather than a fear. Amen

Contributed by Nancy
Published Sunday October 21, 2007
Week 47 of Liturgical Year C