The Fear of God in Me<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Yesterday, when I was attending Daily Mass, I was one of only four people present. \u00a0I sat up in front, and, after the priest had administered the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2013\/09\/the-fear-of-god-in-me.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Fear of God in Me\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Yesterday, when I was attending Daily Mass, I was one of only four people present. \u00a0I sat up in front, and, after the priest had administered the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2013\/09\/the-fear-of-god-in-me.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Unequally Yoked\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-09-10T19:01:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/84\/2013\/09\/Eucharistic-Minister-396x288.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"396\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"288\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Leah Libresco\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Leah Libresco\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2013\/09\/the-fear-of-god-in-me.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2013\/09\/the-fear-of-god-in-me.html\",\"name\":\"The Fear of God in Me\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-09-10T19:01:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-09-10T19:01:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464\"},\"description\":\"Yesterday, when I was attending Daily Mass, I was one of only four people present. \u00a0I sat up in front, and, after the priest had administered the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2013\/09\/the-fear-of-god-in-me.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2013\/09\/the-fear-of-god-in-me.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2013\/09\/the-fear-of-god-in-me.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Fear of God in Me\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/\",\"name\":\"Unequally Yoked\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464\",\"name\":\"Leah Libresco\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"caption\":\"Leah Libresco\"},\"description\":\"Leah is the author of Arriving at Amen and Building the Benedict Option. 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{"id":7924,"date":"2013-09-10T15:01:07","date_gmt":"2013-09-10T19:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?p=7924"},"modified":"2013-09-10T15:01:07","modified_gmt":"2013-09-10T19:01:07","slug":"the-fear-of-god-in-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2013\/09\/the-fear-of-god-in-me.html","title":{"rendered":"The Fear of God in Me"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/a><\/p>\n

I was quite nervous walking up and receiving the chalice, and hoped that terror-as-reverence was about the right disposition, as long as I wasn\u2019t paralyzed by it.<\/p>\n

It was all over quickly; there were only three communicants not counting me, and when I walked back to my seat I was profoundly grateful. \u00a0First, because I hadn\u2019t mishandled the Sacrament. \u00a0And then, after a bit, because I had had moments when I was particularly moved at Mass or touched by the Eucharist, and I was glad to have possibly facilitated that for someone else. \u00a0And mostly I felt relieved that the unexpectedly highest-stakes part of my day was over.<\/p>\n

But if it was natural to be frightened when I was suddenly responsible for carrying the Blood of Christ, why should it be natural to feel casual when I was carrying the Body and the Blood within myself out into the world. \u00a0The Mass ends with the word Ite, missa est<\/em><\/a>; a dismissal with an imperative form of\u00a0Go out!<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a bit easier to remember reverence when I\u2019m surrounded by the \u2018smells and bells\u2019 and when the chalice is a literal weight in my hand. \u00a0But my responsibility did not end when I handed the chalice back to the priest. \u00a0I am always in the position of either offering Mary\u2019s\u00a0fiat<\/em> or interfering with God\u2019s love passing through me to others. \u00a0Long before I thought of converting, this struck me as more than a bit terrifying<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"