Good morning good people,
May the Lord give you peace and health in the Holy Spirit. It is 23rd March 2022.
We reflect on Deuteronomy 4:1, 5-9 and Matthew 5:17-19.
Do we need to follow laws? What kind of laws we need to adhere?
Observing means not obsessed but organised and oblige to do the best we can.
Human life is exposed to unhappiness when it is guided and directed. The code of happiness in the generous heart of the who wishes to listen to the law of the Lord. The moral code of the people of Israel was the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments.
St. Augustine so beautifully describes, “For this reason God “wrote on the tables of the Law what men did not read in their hearts.” The Catechism teaches us that God given laws are the work of divine wisdom. God has inscribed the natural in our hearts that we may be able to go after good and discerning to do good even in challenging life situation.
Responding to God’s law indicates our love and authentic relationship with God and one another, we obtain the freedom to choose and do the good with our reason and freewill and enabling us to grow personally and mature integrally.
We may then ask why not just follow the Ten Commandments alone. The answer is that the Old law was not perfect because it did not offer grace and strength of the Holy Spirit and so the New Law of Jesus, the law of the Gospel, law of love meet the human needs of longing to love God in a tangible way by loving our neighbour.
The moment the commandments of God has become a burden, we can be sure that we are either drifting away from the love of God or beginning to live a life that is opposed to God.
Moses encouraged people to see the security God offers when the people of God would obey. Wisdom, understanding, and happiness are given to all those who observe the intent of the law not just the letter of the law. “What other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before you today?” (Deut.4:8).
Again, Jesus affirms strongly that He came to follow nor forsake the law. “I have come not to abolish but to fulfil.” (Mt. 5:19). Let us strive to be happy by responding with the law of love. May God bless you.