June 14, 2023
St. Paul wrote, Not that of ourselves we are qualified to take credit for anything as coming from us; rather, our qualification comes from God, who has indeed qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter brings death, but the Spirit gives life. 2_Cor_3:4-11
Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Mt_5:17-19
Back in the ancient days of one-room schoolhouses there would be students in ages ranging from kindergarten to high school seniors, all together. And even though the kindergarteners could be taught calculus as well as the seniors, it was much less likely that they would understand it, without the prerequisite algebra, geometry and trigonometry.
And so it was in Jesus’ classroom as well. While some people were well versed in those 4-R’s of Reading, wRiting, aRithmatic and Religion, others were barely able to catch a fish or cook a small cake of bread. And so there was a huge range of teaching levels necessary to get important points across.
The so-called Elders, in the time of Jesus, were well versed in the Jewish heritage and in the Mosaic laws. But they were not so keen on stretches in Philosophy and Theology. For them it was “by the book,” or else suffer the consequences. And if “suffer the consequences” meant overriding that Fifth Commandment not to kill, by stoning an adulterer to death, it was “all in the book,” and not in the heart.
So, when Jesus was trying to teach those ‘kindergarten’ elders about the deeper ‘laws of the heart,’ He had to make sure they also understood that those deeper ‘laws of the heart’ never overrode ANY of the simple Commandments that were originally given to them by God, through Moses.
It simply meant that the “Love of God and of their neighbor” ran through every one of those Ten Commandments. And that ‘law of the heart’ was supposed to be understood, by both the kindergartener and the Ph.D.
But then, when we move from Jesus to St. Paul, we very often find that St. Paul was teaching the Graduate Students. And even to our, sometimes simple, thought processes, Paul’s Letters could be pretty heavy! “Qualification, justification, sanctification, condemnation, righteousness, glory, spirit, fading and enduring,” it can all be pretty confusing!
You see, St. Paul takes the assumption that we’ve already passed from milk to wine, from kindergarten to senior year, from our infant baptism to a more fully informed, Spiritually Confirmed – Catholic.
And, as that Spiritually-wise Catholic, we understand that driving responsibly, that inhibiting or reserving our knee-jerk emotions for the sake of loving our neighbor, that giving and forgiving, that respecting others, even despite their irritating habits or personalities, are not LAWS that need to be memorized for a test, but are actually Freedom-redeeming Graces that are given to us by God, not only for our own life-enhancement, but for the Glory of God as well!
It’s in this “Law of the Heart,” through the Holy Spirit within us, that WE are: saved, redeemed, sanctified, glorified, justified and welcomed into God’s Kingdom with every new breath we take.
And THAT’s something to breathe about!
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Whispers to the Wind 