Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Law - an ordinance of reason for the common good, made by him who has care of the community.


“Small men command the letter of the law. Great men serve its spirit. For the spirit of the law is justice... and justice is the spirit of God.”

Scripture Text: (MK 2:23-28)
As Jesus was passing through a field of grain on the sabbath,
his disciples began to make a path while picking the heads of grain.
At this the Pharisees said to him,
“Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?”
He said to them,
“Have you never read what David did
when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry?
How he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest
and ate the bread of offering that only the priests could lawfully eat,
and shared it with his companions?”
Then he said to them,
“The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath.
That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.”

The less important precepts of the Law have to give way before the most important ones; a ceremonial precept has to give way to a precept of the natural law; the precept of resting on the Sabbath should not, therefore, prevail over the basic needs of subsistence. The II Vatican Council, was inspired by the previous example, and to underline that people have to prevail over economic and social questions, says: «Social order and its progressive development have to be subordinate always to persons' welfare, because things are made for man and not the other way round. The Lord pointed that concept out in Scripture when He said, “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath” (cf. Mk 2:27).

As a Catholic, have you grasped this concept or are you still under the obsession that secondary things overrule the love we have to place on whatever we do? To work, forgive, correct, attend Mass on Sundays, take care of sick people, abide by the commandments..., do we do it because we have to or because of our love for God? If only these considerations may help us to revitalize all our deeds with the love our Lord has instilled in our hearts, precisely so that we can also love Him.

No comments:

Post a Comment