Quem Timebo?
By Melodious Monk
It’s funny, at Eucharist, how sometimes Latin words pop out at me at the least expected times. This morning, as I was somewhat mindlessly singing the Introit Proper, I was suddenly engaged by 2 words: Quem Timebo? Latin for “Whom shall I fear? ” I quickly read the English translation of the psalm verse to get the context of this question. It reads: “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” The verse is stated in two halves. The first as a solid, indisputable fact, and the second as a known rhetorical question. This is a powerful sentence, full of hope, nobility and confidence. But as my day starts to move through morning into the afternoon, I can feel the question mark in the sentence switching from the second half to the first. With the slightest discomfort, will-crossing or negative thought, I start believing a new question: Is the Lord my light and my salvation? Now I have a choice for the next part of my day: will I choose to believe that the Lord is my light and salvation (without a question mark!), moving on boldly without fear, or will I choose to start questioning this psalm verse, and turning my back on God? Only if we choose the latter is there reason to fear.
