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Tag: Law

  • Believing is Loving

    Believing is Loving

    October 11, 2022 – Tuesday of the 28th Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101122.cfm)

    When we have people or even just one person at our back who truly believes in us, who believes the goodness in us, the talents we have, the potentials and the gifts we have, this gives us the confidence and the presence we need in life. That is why, we take comfort when we are being cheered up and our back tapped to continue and to hold on in realizing our dreams and hopes because their presence become our strength. And we understand such actions of people at our back as their way of loving us. Yes, in believing in us they also express their love for us. That cheers us and lightens the load that we may be carrying in life.

    Believing in a person is our way of loving. Being present with a loved one is our way of expressing our affection. How much more when we express this to God? When our way of loving is our way of believing? When loving is an act of faith?

    This is the very invitation we have today revealed in our readings. St. Paul wrote his letter to the Galatians to remind them not to be too overwhelmed with the letters of the law and of human practices. Christ has set us free and that’s what is important.

    The Galatians were actually somehow influenced by Jewish Christians to submit themselves to Jewish beliefs and practices particularly of the tradition of circumcision. Paul was quite indignant in this because the Jewish-Christians claimed that the non-Jewish Christians like the Galatians must become Jews first before becoming a Christian. However, such practice was not important at all. Whether circumcised or not, what is essential is faith that works through love.

    Faith in the Risen Christ is not about being faithful to human practices. This is what Jesus also pointed out in today’s Gospel. The Pharisee who invited him for a meal observed Jesus if he would follow the Jewish customs. But, Jesus did not. Jesus did that to make a point to the Pharisee and bring out his warning and invitation. Therefore, Jesus confronted the Pharisee’s over-emphasis to trivial things but with a heart filled with plunder and evil.

    Thus, a person’s over-emphasis on trivial matters, on particular religious customs and practices can become a cover up of a heart that is filled with malice and evil. This is the warning of Jesus and warning to us all.

    We are called to confront such tendency and recover that faith, indeed, works through love and not over trivial matters. Our belief in the Lord is best expressed when we show concrete actions of loving, of taking care of each other, of showing concern and understanding and in having the capacity to welcome others despite our differences. Certainly, believing is loving. Faith works through love, as St. Paul reminds us. May our faith, then, grow more in that area of loving. Kabay pa.

  • Fulfilling God’s commandments?

    Fulfilling God’s commandments?

    March 10, 2021 – Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031021.cfm)

    There was once a man who went to the priest to seek advice. He asked the priest, “Father, what else must I do to lead a holy life? Well, so far, I have not taken the Lord’s name in vain. I have not profaned the Lord’s. I have not dishonored my father or mother. I have not killed anyone. I haven’t been unfaithful to my wife. I have not stolen. I have not borne false witness against anyone. And I have not coveted my neighbor’s wife or good.”

    The priest replied, “So, in other words, you know God’s commandments & have not broken any of them.” “Yes” that’s right“, the man replied. “But have you kept or fulfilled the commandments?” priest asked. “What do you mean?” said the man. “I mean: have you honored God’s holy name? Have you kept holy the Lord’s Day? Have you loved and honored your parents? Have you sought to preserve and defend life? When was the last time you told you wife that you loved her? Have you shared your goods with the poor? Have you defended the good name of anyone? When was the last time you put yourself out to help a neighbor?” Have you loved others as you have loved God and yourself?” You may not have broken God’s commandments but have you fulfilled them?

    Surely we are familiar with God’s commandments. Moses even reminds us today in our reading that we should observe God’s decree and statutes. But what is our attitude towards God’s law and commandments? Is it enough just to observe and not break it or are we doing or fulfilling what it directs us?

    Jesus in our gospel today reiterates to us his listeners that He has not come to abolish the Law and Prophets but to fulfill it. Here, Jesus particularly denounced our minimalist attitude and tendency towards God’s commandment. For Jesus, God’s commandments are more than just human tradition and religious observances or practices. Keeping God’s commandments is not a matter of not breaking or breaking the law but more on actively living out and practicing (i.e. obeying & teaching) its true spirit in our relationship with God and others. In other words, God’s commandments are to be observed not because God says so, but it is & should be our rightful attitude and behavior with God, and through it, we might share God’s salvation and may have life to its fullness.

    Sin of omission is our sin for not doing what should be done or for failing to do what we should do. In other words, the sin of not living what we believe and of not practicing what we preach, and not fulfilling the commandments.

    During this season of Lent, we are called not only to be sorry for the sins that we have done but most important, we must ask forgiveness for the sins of failing to fulfill and do what we should do. And above all, Lent is the time to make thing right before God & others.   May the Lord then, in his love and mercy, forgive us not only for breaking his commandments but failing to fulfill it in our relationship with God and others, & so that we may have anew right relationship with Him. So Help us God, So may it be.   Amen.

  • Faith Working Through Love

    Faith Working Through Love

    October 13, 2020 – Tuesday of the 28th Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here fore the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101320.cfm)

    Homily

    As a human response of love, FAITH, (see https://adoseofgodtoday.com/2020/10/09/faith-a-human-response-of-love/) goes beyond obligation or from the letters of the law. What does it mean? To understand this better, let us see a bit deeper the encounter of Jesus with the Pharisee.

    In the today’s Gospel passage, Luke tells us that a Pharisee invited Jesus to dine with him in his house. This Pharisee must have heard a lot about Jesus, his preaching and miracles. He wanted to see Jesus personally and to see the ways of Jesus. However, these group of people, Pharisees, were hostile to Jesus. They were always looking for faults in Jesus that they can use against him.

    The Pharisees were known in the Jewish society at that time of Jesus who observed strictly the traditional and written law of Moses. Indeed, they were known to follow the law up to its most trivial law like in washing before meal and of the dishes. However, these people were filled with pretentions and superiority. They developed such practices to be praised and recognized by the people.

    Thus, the integrity of their faith was in question. The sincerity of their action was doubtful. This was something that Jesus wanted them to realize. Jesus wanted this people to see that our relationship with God is not tied up in following the minutest detail of the law. Having faith is not about making others look us up because of the many trivial rituals we do. To have faith is never about becoming self-righteous and superior from others.

    Hence, Jesus confronted the Pharisee because Jesus knew his heart. The amazement of the Pharisee when Jesus did not observed the prescribed washing before the meal, was born out of disgust to a person who did not follow the law like him. However, this was the chance of Jesus to teach the Pharisee an important lesson.

    Jesus pointed out the plunder and evil in the heart of these people while making themselves good and honorable in front of the public. This means that what they were after was not to please and worship God but to make people worship them.

    What is more important is not our good image before the public but our heart that expresses our goodness, generosity and love.

    This is basically what St. Paul is telling us in his letter to the Galatians. Similar to the Pharisee, the Jewish Christians wanted to retain the law of circumcision for the non-Jewish Christians. They wanted the non-Jewish to submit to this law because they believed that they can only be a true believer if they observe such law like them. This became a conflict in the early Christian Community to which Paul intervened.

    Paul reminded them that “in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.”

    Only faith working through love! If faith does not do good to others but suppresses and restricts a person to become life-giving, then, it is not faith at all, but a self-serving belief. Because faith is a human response of love to God who first loved us, then, faith naturally expresses love to God and to others. When our actions and thoughts would only serve our ego, for the preservation of our good-image, to seek praise and approval from others, then, it is surely not of faith.

    This is what Jesus calls us today. Let our faith in Jesus express love and only love. Never be afraid to express love because when it is expressed it is surely liberating for us and for others. Hinaut pa.

    Jom Baring, CSsR