Deuteronomy
4:1, 5-9 / Matthew 5:17-19
Moses
instructs the people: “Don’t forget what your eyes have seen.”
Lewis
Carroll’s famous book The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland has a lot of soft
or low-key humor in it. An example is when the King tells the Queen about a
terrifying moment he just had. “‘The horror of that moment,’ the King said, T
shall never, never forget!’ ‘You will, though,’ the Queen said, ‘if you don’t
make a memorandum of it.’” Moses makes the same point to the people as they are
about to enter the Promised Land. Talking about the many things God has done
for them, he says:
“Be
on your guard! Make certain that you do not forget, as long as you live, what
you have seen with your own eyes.”
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How
do we keep God’s many blessings to us from slipping from our memory? “God gives
us memory so that we may have roses in December.” James Matthew Barrie
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Most
homes and offices will have a storage room of some sort and of various sizes.
Of course, the bigger the storage room, the more the items there can be. Some
of these items may be things of importance or they may just be ordinary things
that we use now and then, or things that we just want to get out of the way and
so the most convenient place to put them will be the storage room.
But
the problem can be that we may not make a list of what we put in that storage
room and also, we may not be that discerning and hence, that room will be
cluttered with things like boxes and brooms and whatever. And after a while, we
may not remember what we have put into that storage room and when we want to
look for something that we may also forget that we put it in that room.
Such
can be said of our hearts and minds. There are so many things to remember and
so many things to think about that after a while, even the important things
like birthdays and anniversaries are forgotten.
In
the 1st reading, Moses urged the people not to forget the things their eyes
have seen, nor let them slip from their hearts all the days of their life. They
must tell them to their children and even to their children's children. In the
gospel, Jesus said that He did not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets but
to complete them. In effect, He is reminding us of the Law of God that must be
taught and kept in our minds and hearts.
The season of Lent
is to help us remember what Jesus had taught us and to keep it and also to
teach it to our children and also to our children's children.
****
Wednesday of 3rd Week
of Lent - LITURGY
COMMANDMENTS: SIGN OF
FREEDOM AND LOVE
Introduction
What is the meaning of the commandments to us? To some, they
are the summary and summit of all morality; to others, narrow and outmoded
rules; still to others, obstacles to the freedom of the gospel. To Israel, they were the expression of
fidelity to God and to the whole people as part of God’s covenant. They were
the road to freedom from all forms of slavery: to other gods, to selfishness,
to exploitation of one person by another. They were the sign of belonging to
God and God’s nearness. And they were witnesses that love of God and love of
neighbor cannot be separated. In Christ,
all this is fulfilled, and more. The commandments remain, but they become a
basic step not to salvation by observances but to seeking communion with God in
Christ and communion with our neighbor, and they are animated by love.
Penitential Rite:
-Moses taught the statutes and decrees as the LORD, my God,
has commanded, when we fail in following them, LHM
-Your statutes and decrees that are as just as Your whole
law, when we fail in practising justice, CHM
- You remind us in Jesus that whoever breaks one of the
least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in
the Kingdom of heaven, LHM
Opening Prayer
Lord our God, you have given us your commandments to set us
on the road of freedom from all forms of alienation. May we learn to obey them not to save
ourselves by observances nor to do you favors, but to be free for you and for
people and to live in your love, with Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord.
Commentary
There are few verses in the New Testament more widely
debated than those from the Matthean Gospel read today. The claim for the
lasting value of the Torah seems to be the antithesis of Paul’s teaching on
freedom from the law. Moreover, there is no historical evidence that the church
ever retained every precept of Torah. The fact is that most of its legislation
did not continue. It is helpful to begin
with the facts. Paul insisted that the precepts of the Jewish law must not
obtain among Gentile Christians. His position prevailed. If we are correct in
the assumption that Matthew’s Gospel was written for a largely Jewish Christian
community, then law observance may well have obtained for some period of time.
This would have been seen as consonant with Jesus’ basic respect for the law
during his lifetime. The examples used
in Matthew 5 of fulfilling the law and not destroying it do not in any way
violate Paul’s thought. The Decalogue contained basic moral norms that Jesus
did not ignore but raised to a new level. Where the law forbade killing, the
teaching of Christ excludes even personal hostility. The law is fulfilled in
going beyond it. Both Matthew and Paul champion a new ethic that in its
premises respects and upholds the basic principles of Torah. The reading from Deuteronomy today provides
insight on why Torah was held in such esteem. It brought God close to his
people. His will for them was expressed with clarity. It did not require mental
gyrations to divine God’s intentions. As
we make the journey of life, we are comforted by the fact that God’s will for
us, especially as expressed in Jesus, is a guiding light, a beacon on what are
at times stormy seas. At times we find it difficult to live as a Christian. We
make mistakes. But the will of God remains a great grace for which we can only
be grateful as we make the journey.
Points to Ponder
Moving beyond the Decalogue
Understanding Matthew and Paul
The God who is near to us
Intercessions
– That we may learn to look at the commandments not as
obstacles to our freedom, but like the people of God of old, as guidelines for
fidelity and freedom, we pray:
– That we may not get entangled in the letter of the law but
serve the Lord with the freedom of the sons and daughters of God as Jesus
teaches us in the gospel, we pray:
– That we ask ourselves not so much what must we do but
rather what can we do to for the love of God and people, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
Lord our God, you are near to us in your Son Jesus Christ. May he make us aware of the price he paid for
our freedom. As we sit at table with
him, may he give us the grace and strength to give you a response of freedom, that
with him we may love you as your sons and daughters, now and for ever.
Prayer after
Communion
Lord our God, you have chosen us to be your people. May your Son be alive in us, that with him we
may be faithful to you and march forward together to build a land of freedom and
to share with one another until you share yourself with us for ever. We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Blessing
Let the great commandment given us by Jesus guide our life
and make it beautiful and rich: Love God and love your neighbor as yourself,
with the blessing of almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
