Second Friday of Ordinary Time

I will put my laws in their minds and I will write them upon their hearts. I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

The laws of the Lord are written in our hearts. They are ever-present within us and we are constantly reminded of them by our conscience. As long as we listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, which informs our sense of right and wrong, we shall be God’s people. We shall do good and avoid evil. We will not be afraid to live out our faith. Our thoughts will be guided by the Truth. Our words will be inspired by the Holy Spirit. Our works will be achieved through the gifts God has given us as heirs to His Kingdom.

Do we listen to our consciences? In what ways do we make the law of the Lord central to our lives? How can we show God that He is in our hearts?

O Lord, put your laws in our minds.

Amen.

Memorial of Saint Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church

While Jesus was going through a field of grain on a sabbath, his disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them. Some Pharisees said, "Why are you doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?" Jesus said to them in reply, "Have you not read what David did when he and those who were with him were hungry? How he went into the house of God, took the bread of offering, which only the priests could lawfully eat, ate of it, and shared it with his companions?" Then he said to them, "The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath."

We are surrounded by laws be they religious, city, state, or national and for the most part it is a good thing to follow these laws. However, when a law interferes with doing the right thing we need to make a value judgment and decide whether the dictates of our conscience outweigh our responsibility to follow the laws of our society. This is not to say that we should go around breaking laws because we feel like it, but rather that when a law is unjust, we should be willing to stand up against it and try to reform it through the political process. In the same regard, when we are faced with an opportunity to do good, but in order to do that good we must break a law, then we have to determine if the fruits of the good we wish to do are greater than the problems caused by our breaking of the law. In today's gospel Jesus reminds us that there are times when following the law can do greater harm than good and it is in those moments that we should feel free to do what is good over what is lawful.

Are we so consumed by rules and regiment that sometimes we miss opportunities to love God and others? Do we pray for God's guidance when we must make a choice between doing the right thing and what is lawful? How can we cultivate a conscience that is willing to obey just laws, but also willing to break the law when we have a very good reason or when it is unjust?

O Lord, give us the courage to do your will no matter what might stand in our way.

Amen.

Thirteenth Saturday of Ordinary Time

People do not put new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined. Rather, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.

Jesus’ gospel message is new. It cannot be contained by the laws of Old Testament. It demands a new way of thinking and living. Jesus tells us that we must make ourselves into wineskins in order to preserve ourselves. His love, mercy, and grace demand it. He will not let himself be contained in the legalistic code of the Law. Instead he writes his commandments in his own flesh and blood and calls upon us to make ourselves into an acceptable sacrifice to God and for our fellow children of God.

Do we see the commandments of Christ as legal obligations or as spiritual fulfillment? How do we receive and preserve the word of God? How do we receive and preserve the Body and Blood of Christ?

O Lord, make us into fresh wineskins so that we might preserve your gospel and be preserved by it.

Amen.

Third Wednesday of Lent

Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.

Jesus fulfills the law and prophets through his Gospel and sacrifice. The law and prophets were necessary before Jesus, because mankind needed them. However, Christ completes them through his priestly, prophetic, and kingly mission to the world. His words build upon the law and transfigure it into the Gospel message we have today. His actions complete the foreseen future of the prophets. This is why we as Christians do not depend merely upon the law or prophets of the Jewish people. We give them due acknowledgement, but there is something more than the law and the prophets in Christ. He calls us to follow his Way, Truth, and Life and in order to do that we must look past the letter of the law and the signs of the prophets to the spirit of the law and the sign of our salvation.

Do we live our lives according to the spirit of the Gospels? Do we focus our every thought, word, and work on the goal of saving souls, including our own? What are the sacrifices we are willing to make to follow God’s commandments?

O Lord, we want to fulfill your Gospel message and become prophets of your love.

Amen.