CELEBRATE SUNDAY
WITH ST. MARY'S
THIRTY-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
We've been given laws so that we can love.
THIRTY-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
The law of God is perfect. Laws are meant to keep us within certain parameters so that we can live to our fullest potential. However, as we are told in today’s second reading from the Letter to the Hebrews, flawed humans have had to be the ones appointed to arbitrate laws, and flawed humans can turn the nature of laws into something unjust, cruel, or restrictive to basic freedoms. Through Christ, the unblemished High Priest, God’s perfect Law is carried out perfectly, and we are made aware of how to live our lives in such a way that reaching our fullest potential is actually possible.
READ THIS SUNDAY'S MESSAGE
The great criticism of religion in general, but especially Christianity, is that the numerous laws which we promote inhibit us from truly living freely. Throughout his papacy in works such as his Theology of the Body or his encyclical Veritatis Splendor, Pope John Paul II claims that true freedom is not found in doing whatever we want whenever we want, despite secular culture telling us that this is the only way we can live freely. Rather, true freedom is living according to love, and we have a very obvious way of knowing that this is true: a life of decadent self-satisfaction (in other words, doing whatever you want whenever you want) has disastrous consequences. Selfishness alienates us, and a life of meaning is a life lived with others. Living with others requires selflessness, sacrifice, and love, and when we do live according to these things, we find that momentary temperance leads us to a more fulfilling happiness. A life lived in love is a life of just and perfect laws that are meant to keep us on the straight and narrow path for the sake of our own fulfillment. When God delivered the Law to the Israelites through Moses, he diligently walked them through every aspect of their lives, assigning basic laws for everything they did; still, he made sure to teach them that these smaller and seemingly arbitrary laws all flowed from one primary law, which the Israelites called the Shema: “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone! Therefore, you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.” Those small and seemingly arbitrary laws made the Jews happier, healthier, and more intentional in their daily actions. The Shema taught them the reason why laws are necessary in the first place: we are meant to know, love, and serve the Lord because, like a parent to a young child, he alone understands what we need.
This law was passed on from Israelite to Israelite, levite to levite, priest to priest. Each one of these men, despite their personal sanctity, were still subject to human weakness. It was not until Jesus Christ came to offer a whole and perfect sacrifice according to the Law of God that we were told exactly how to live this Law perfectly. Interestingly, he seems to add something to the Shema - as much as we are called to love God, we are also called to love our neighbor in the same way. In reality, nothing was added to the Shema, only clarified. If we love our Creator, we will love His Creation. The selfishness that is at the root of a warped sense of freedom can be reoriented; if we only love each other as much as we love ourselves, we will love God through each other. Christ’s Church carries on this perfect law and its fulfillment. We have transitioned from being treated like children with smaller laws and are now called to live for more with the understanding of the perfect sacrifice already offered by our perfect High Priest. As humans subject to weakness, we will always fail when laws come from us. But if we maintain obedience solely to the law of God, found in the words of Christ and clarified/understood through the doctrines of His Church, we will live perfectly.
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