LOVE OF GOD KEEPS THE LAW


MONDAY, FIFTH WEEK OF LENT

Dan 13:1-9,15-17,19-30,33-62; Ps 23; Jn 8:12-20

Passing to Newness of Life

The Book of Daniel the prophet gives us a fascinating story of an event that happened while the Israelites were in captivity in Babylon. Susanna, the daughter of Hilkiah, is the central character of the story, a woman described as beautiful both within and without. “In Babylon, there lived a man named Joachim. He had married Susanna daughter of Hilkiah, a woman of great beauty; and she was God-fearing, because her parents were worthy people and had instructed their daughter in the Law of Moses.” Her external beauty would be nothing without her inner beauty, so the scripture praises her parents for bringing her up in the Law of Moses. From the story, we understand the importance of the Law as a passage from former or old life to newness of life in God. By instructing their daughter in the Law of God, her parents introduced her to the immortal life of God. Hence, the Law was a means by which she attained a heavenly life above the mortal life. Her belief and foretaste of immortality in and through Law strengthened her to resist and overcome the attack on her lower or mortal life. By her resistance to the wickedness of the elders and temptation to sensible pleasure, she witnessed that faith is not just about a future reality but communion with a present unseen reality of God, which we share by faith.

The contrary is the case for the two elderly judges of the people. Their appointment as judges of the people presupposed familiarity with the Law of the Lord. Indeed, they were familiar with the Law of the Lord, but not for keeping it. Because they did not believe the Law and embrace it with their hearts, they lived in darkness and had no share in the immortal life of God, which only his word can confer. “The two elders, who used to watch her every day as she came in to take her walk, gradually began to desire her. They threw reason aside, making no effort to turn their eyes to heaven, and forgetting its demands of virtue.” Their undoing was in the following: constant gazing on transitory sensible goods, their inordinate desire for them, shallow or no prayer at all, and cessation of meditation on the word of God. The absence of these spiritual activities made them fall prey to darkness and evil. They became vassals of the kingdom of evil to persecute and destroy the Son of Man, for a plot against any just person is a plot against the Son of Man. Susanna lifted her eyes to God when besieged, where she believed her help would come from, for her inner life was in God. God heard her prayer and delivered her as his daughter.

The mystery at play in the story of Susanna is explained in the gospel by our Lord Jesus Christ. He explains that he is the light that gave interior beauty to Susannah, for she walked in the Law of God. Faith in the paschal mysteries of our Lord establishes a new and spiritual life within us that we share with Jesus Christ. The spiritual life is a life of interior illumination, helping us to understand the values of physical goods. Whoever lives in the interior encounters God and grows in the knowledge of God, which is Jesus Christ. The interior direction that we receive when we embrace the spiritual life is what Jesus Christ speaks about to the Jews. “It is true that I am testifying on my own behalf, but my testimony is still valid, because I know where I came from or where I am going.” As the Eternal Word of God, Jesus comes from the Father to accomplish his will and returns to the Father in everlasting glory. Faith in him confers this spiritually directed life on us that we come from the Father in prayer to accomplish his will expressed in his word that we meditate and contemplate and go back to him in thanksgiving and praise for all we have received from him in Jesus Christ. Thus, constant meditations on the paschal mysteries offer us entrance into the love current of the Trinity of God. “You do not know me, nor do you know my Father; if you did know me, you would know my Father as well.” When we walk in the word of God as Susanna, no evil will overcome us. “If I should walk in the valley of darkness no evil would I fear. You are there with your crook and your staff; with these you give me comfort.”

Let us pray: O God, by whose wondrous grace we are enriched with every blessing, grant us so to pass from former ways to newness of life, that we may be made ready for the glory of the heavenly kingdom. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THE ANALOGY OF CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH

Image
SUNDAY, TWENTY SEVENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME Gen 2:18-24; Ps 128; Heb 2:9-11; Mk 10:2-16 The two shall become One, mystery of Christ and his Church The readings and theme for this week propel us toward understanding the gift God promised to man, which is beyond his knowledge and experience. Because of this, he gave us the analogy to understand the mystery, which is the divine gift. The analogy given in the reading from Genesis is a man’s union with his spouse. This analogy is profound because it has various levels of meaning. The good thing with analogies is that they work with what is easily given to our experience to transport us to the realm beyond our senses. God made man to be a temple where his Word would dwell. The indwelling of the Word in man would not be realised suddenly, for it must follow the free will and acceptance of men who are made in the image of God. The divine project is to make man like God to facilitate mutual communion. Hence, the statement: “It is not goo...
Read more

A NEW HEART CREATE FOR ME LORD

Image
ASH WEDNESDAY, EIGHTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME Joel 2:12-18; Ps 51:3-6,12-14,17; 2 Cor 5:20-6:2; Mt 6:1-6,16-18 The Importance of a Broken Heart The Ash Wednesday celebration launches us into the season of Lent. It is a season the Church emphasises the practice of penance as an important aspect of our Christian life. The three central activities the Church puts before us are prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. These activities aim to promote or solidify the foundation of our Christian faith and life, which we have conceived as repentance. In other words, they help break our hard and sinful hearts. In this season of Lent, the Church brings what ought to be a common feature of our Christian life, repentance, and penance, to the focus of all. The aim is to deepen our conversion experience and promote our growth in the Christian life. It is a time to intensify our desire to do the will of God, as the prophet Joel calls out in the name of God. “‘Now, now—it is the Lord who speaks—come back ...
Read more

THE SACRIFICE OF THE HIGH PRIEST

Image
GOOD FRIDAY Isa 52:13-53:12; Ps 31:2,6,12-13,15-17,25; Heb 4:14-1,5:7-9; Jn 18:1-19:42 The High Priest and His Sacrifice for Our Sins The liturgy of Good Friday is unique and intriguing. It is the single day we do not celebrate the Eucharist because the Church puts the actual crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ before us for our meditation and contemplation. Thus, the Stations of the Cross are prayed and dramatized (if possible) for the people. The celebration of the Lord’s Passion takes place around 3 pm, with the readings and the passion narrative taking a major part of the time. The readings lead us to consider the nature of the High Priest and the sacrifice he offered for our redemption. The first reading from Isaiah contains a prophecy of the human conditions of the High Priest of God’s religion. The prophecy by Isaiah says the Son of Man would be born like any of us and grow among us, with nothing to distinguish him from us and nothing to attract us to him. What would dis...
Read more