How do we know that we are living out the Law as it should be lived? It is when we are loving, we are understanding, and we are full of joy, not just towards ourselves, but also towards our families and our communities. Thank you, Monsignor Vaz.
T1is Sunday past was a meditation on allowing the Law* to guide us to love and life (Deuteronomy 4:1-2).
...accept and submit to the word which has been planted in you and can save your souls. (James 1:21)
Psalm 14 tells us saying yes to Jesus means walking without fault, acting with justice, speaking truth from the heart... doing no wrong to your brother, casting no slur on your neighbour, and keeping your pledge come what may.
While James goes on to tell us:
Pure, unspoilt religion, in the eyes of God our Father is this: coming to the help of orphans and widows when they need it, and keeping oneself uncontaminated by the world.
As good Christians, we all know what we must do. Often, we are contaminated by our own selfish desires, and we choose the more convenient path or the easier walk, and we find excuses not to do what we know we should.
I find myself often ignoring the small, inner voice that tells me what I should be doing instead of indulging my own fancies. Yes, I work hard, yes, I do a lot to serve the Lord, yes, I am a good person who helps others, but there is also a bunch of stuff that takes me great effort to do, so I tend to leave that in a pile, for later. I procrastinate. And procrastinate. And never get round to doing most of it... It may be too late, if I am not careful.
One such instance is my Third Aunt. I have been meaning to visit her and see how she is, but because where she lives is a little out of the way, inconvenient, and I am never very sure of a warm reception, I have used work as an excuse to put off seeing her. She is currently quite ill and I am filled with remorse that I have neglected doing what my heart told me to do months earlier.
Thus I find myself making amends by visiting her frequently this period and trying my best to make her feel comfortable (and loved, hopefully). I can only thank God I am not too late.
If I am merely motivated by my guilt conscience then I will find the task onerous and I will be like the Pharisees who cling to human tradition and pay lip service in worshipping God, my heart not truly in what I do. (Mark 7) I will not bring comfort and joy to her, nor to myself, but only a grim, duty-bound and joyless satisfaction to us both.
The only way I can keep my intentions pure - I won't lie, I do feel physically and emotionally drained (it is very hard to see her suffering so) - is to keep offering every visit up to Jesus and allow myself to be His hands and feet. His glory, not mine.
Being good, living by the Law and delighting in it, may seem a contradiction in terms, but it isn't, unless I choose to make it so. It is not always the natural choice, the yes that rolls off the tongue lightly, but it is always the right one. More importantly, as I keep internalizing the Law, writing it on my heart, I feel a lightness of being which can only come from living as I was created to, fully engaged in the world, vitally alive.
We are all created to be good so being good feels good. Don't buy into the world view that feeling good can only come from self-serving, pleasure-seeking ways, leading you to disregard and disparage 'killjoy' commandments. Live lawfully and you will find yourself in the presence of the Lord, genuflecting with great joy.
* Readings are taken from the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B.
T1is Sunday past was a meditation on allowing the Law* to guide us to love and life (Deuteronomy 4:1-2).
...accept and submit to the word which has been planted in you and can save your souls. (James 1:21)
Psalm 14 tells us saying yes to Jesus means walking without fault, acting with justice, speaking truth from the heart... doing no wrong to your brother, casting no slur on your neighbour, and keeping your pledge come what may.
While James goes on to tell us:
Pure, unspoilt religion, in the eyes of God our Father is this: coming to the help of orphans and widows when they need it, and keeping oneself uncontaminated by the world.
As good Christians, we all know what we must do. Often, we are contaminated by our own selfish desires, and we choose the more convenient path or the easier walk, and we find excuses not to do what we know we should.
I find myself often ignoring the small, inner voice that tells me what I should be doing instead of indulging my own fancies. Yes, I work hard, yes, I do a lot to serve the Lord, yes, I am a good person who helps others, but there is also a bunch of stuff that takes me great effort to do, so I tend to leave that in a pile, for later. I procrastinate. And procrastinate. And never get round to doing most of it... It may be too late, if I am not careful.
One such instance is my Third Aunt. I have been meaning to visit her and see how she is, but because where she lives is a little out of the way, inconvenient, and I am never very sure of a warm reception, I have used work as an excuse to put off seeing her. She is currently quite ill and I am filled with remorse that I have neglected doing what my heart told me to do months earlier.
Thus I find myself making amends by visiting her frequently this period and trying my best to make her feel comfortable (and loved, hopefully). I can only thank God I am not too late.
If I am merely motivated by my guilt conscience then I will find the task onerous and I will be like the Pharisees who cling to human tradition and pay lip service in worshipping God, my heart not truly in what I do. (Mark 7) I will not bring comfort and joy to her, nor to myself, but only a grim, duty-bound and joyless satisfaction to us both.
The only way I can keep my intentions pure - I won't lie, I do feel physically and emotionally drained (it is very hard to see her suffering so) - is to keep offering every visit up to Jesus and allow myself to be His hands and feet. His glory, not mine.
Being good, living by the Law and delighting in it, may seem a contradiction in terms, but it isn't, unless I choose to make it so. It is not always the natural choice, the yes that rolls off the tongue lightly, but it is always the right one. More importantly, as I keep internalizing the Law, writing it on my heart, I feel a lightness of being which can only come from living as I was created to, fully engaged in the world, vitally alive.
We are all created to be good so being good feels good. Don't buy into the world view that feeling good can only come from self-serving, pleasure-seeking ways, leading you to disregard and disparage 'killjoy' commandments. Live lawfully and you will find yourself in the presence of the Lord, genuflecting with great joy.
* Readings are taken from the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B.
