Taking God At His Word
The Book of Sirach is full of some of the Scriptures most beautiful poetic verses. It is also contains some plain prose such as the text of this weekend’s first reading. The word of God spoken through Ben Sira is clear: choose wisely, choose me. Freedom is God’s gift to us but this gift must be used responsibly because, while true freedom is about choices, choices have consequences. Accepting that choices have consequences is part of a mature attitude towards life, both in the here and now and in the life yet to come. The fact that our choices have consequences before God does not make God mean or punitive but consequences, like blessings, are an aspect of the fact that He is just while He is also merciful. And we should want God to be both…we need God to be both since justice without mercy easily slides into tyranny and mercy without justice is worthless.
In our Gospel reading from Matthew this Sunday, Jesus is clear about his mission that he has not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. Sometimes Christians make the serious error that Jesus came preaching the false notion of “you’re fine, I’m fine, we’re all fine” and that the law of God is more of a suggestion. In saying that he has come to fulfill the law he is telling us that we must go beyond the letter of the law and seek the law’s heart; that is how the law is ultimately fulfilled. Take for example the Fifth Commandment; most of us, I would venture to guess, are not murderers at the surface meaning of the commandment but the heart of the commandment goes beyond a prohibition concerning unprovoked physical harm. To fulfill the commandment, to strive for its heart means that I will seek to do nothing that breaks my neighbor down through my actions or words; this is why the sins of verbal assaults, slander, and gossip are also a part of the commandments prohibition at its heart.
If we want the blessings of the righteous, if we want to grow as disciples then we must take God at His word. May the Lord grant us the grace to strive for true perfection; to seek to fulfill the letter and the heart of the law in imitation of the Lord Jesus.
Church Housekeeping
Every weekend there are a lot of folks that come through the church and that is a wonderful thing. Our church remains in pretty good form throughout all the weekend Masses but there is one thing that I would ask for your help with and that is to please stop discarding bulletins and used tissues in the church pews. Finding used tissues in a pew or stuffed into the hymnal rack is, well, not pleasant; it is also unsettling for some as the past few years have made many more sensitive to germs, etc. Concerning the bulletins, please take it with you or dispose of it in one of the waste baskets in the vestibule and bulletin reading should not be done in the church proper as our attention should be on the Lord. Thank you for your help and for your understanding.
Blessings to you and yours for the week ahead!
Father Chris House