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It’s Day 259!!
Today we are talking about THE GOLDEN RULE
Paragraph 1970 says, “‘Whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them; this is the law and the prophets.’ The entire Law of the Gospel is contained in the ‘new commandment’ of Jesus, to love one another as he has loved us.”
The New Law is a law of LOVE
THIS IS SO IMPORTANT FOR US!!
St. Augustine said, “Love God and do what you will.”
Ok how has Christ loved us?
He has loved us by pouring out His very life for us
By saying NO to himself and YES to His Father, so that the Father could be glorified and so that we could have new life
This is a high call
We can’t live up to that high call without the grace of the Holy Spirit
We can’t live up to that high call without the grace that comes to us because of what Jesus has done for us
How does it come to us?
THE SACRAMENTS!!
God has give us the grace to accomplish His Law and accomplish His Will in this life
It is a law of LOVE
It is a law of GRACE
It is a law of FREEDOM
It is a law we are called to
Let’s pray!!
Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we give you praise and glory. We love you. And we also know that we do not love you enough. We don’t love you purely. We don’t love you as you deserve to be loved. And we don’t love you as we’re made to love you. So give us your Holy Spirit, please. Please, give us your Holy Spirit so that we can love you the way you deserve. The way you made us to be able to love you. Give us your Holy Spirit so that we can follow your Law. Not just in external actions, but in the depths of our hearts. Lord God, go all the way to the root. And touch the root. Transform the root, not just the fruit of our actions, but where they come from. Transform our hearts. You promised to give us new hearts. Lord God, give us those hearts this day. We make this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen”
So there we have it!!
Paragraph 1970 says, “‘Whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them; this is the law and the prophets.’ The entire Law of the Gospel is contained in the ‘new commandment’ of Jesus, to love one another as he has loved us.”
SO IMPORTANT!!
The two GREAT COMMANDMENTS
Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength
Love your neighbor as yourself
The Law of love is not smaller or easier
It is actually MORE DEMANDING
Loving God with everything we have is not loving God in passing or as an afterthought
This is loving God as the center of EVERYTHING WE ARE and EVERYTHING WE HAVE
The demand of that kind of love can be overwhelming
Which is one of the reasons why we absolutely need the Holy Spirit
Paragraph 1972 says, “The New Law is called the law of love because it makes us act out of the love infused by the Holy Spirit, rather than from fear; a law of grace, because it confers the strength of grace to act, by means of faith and the sacraments; a law of freedom, because it sets us free from the ritual and juridical observances of the Old Law, inclines us to act spontaneously by the prompting of charity and, finally, lets us pass from the condition of a servant who ‘does not know what his master is doing’ to that of a friend of Christ-‘For all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you’-or even to the status of son and heir.”
Why is it a law of freedom?
Because we do not have to observe the old juridical and and ritual observances of the Old Law
We have a fulfillment of that in the sacraments
We have a fulfillment of the observances of worship
We have the fulfillment of entering into a relationship with God through the sacraments
BUT…
It is of a completely different nature
Paragraph 1971 says, “To the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount it is fitting to add the moral catechesis of the apostolic teachings, such as Romans 12-15, 1 Corinthians 12-13, Colossians 3-4, Ephesians 4-5, etc. This doctrine hands on the Lord’s teaching with the authority of the apostles, particularly in the presentation of the virtues that flow from faith in Christ and are animated by charity, the principal gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Let’s listen to Fr. Mike’s story about a wedding that used Colossians Ch 3…
“If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.”
“Think of what is above, not of what is on earth. You have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ your life appears, then too, you will appear with him in glory.”
“Put to death then the parts of you that are earthly. Put to death immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and the greed that is idolatry.”
“But now, you must put all of them away; anger, fury, malice, slander, obscene language out of your mouths. Stop lying to one another. Since you have taken off the old self with its practices and put on the new self which is being renewed for knowledge in the image of the Creator.”
“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bearing with one another and forgiving one another. If one has a grievance against another, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also do. And over all these put on love. That is the bond of perfection.”
“Let the peace of Christ control your hearts. The peace into which you are called into one body. And be thankful.”
This is the commandment of the moral catechesis of the apostles
Paragraph 1973 says, “Besides its precepts, the New Law also includes the evangelical counsels. The traditional distinction between God’s commandments and the evangelical counsels is drawn in relation to charity, the perfection of Christian life. The precepts are intended to remove whatever is incompatible with charity. The aim of the counsels is to remove whatever might hinder the development of charity, even if it is not contrary to it.”
Paragraph 1974 says, “The evangelical counsels manifest the living fullness of charity, which is never satisfied with not giving more. They attest its vitality and call forth our spiritual readiness. The perfection of the New Law consists essentially in the precepts of love of God and neighbor. The counsels point out the more direct ways, the readier means, and are to be practiced in keeping with the vocation of each: [God] does not want each person to keep all the counsels, but only those appropriate to the diversity of persons, times, opportunities, and strengths, as charity requires; for it is charity, as queen of all virtues, all commandments, all counsels, and, in short, of all laws and all Christian actions, that gives to all of them their rank, order, time, and value.”
What are the evangelical counsels in the life of Christ?
POVERTY
OBEDIENCE
CHASTITY
From the very beginning of Christianity, those who were following after Jesus embraced these
Some of them would even make vows to live a life of poverty, a life of chastity, a live of obedience
If you make a vow to live out poverty, chastity, and obedience, it is not because wealth is evil, not because the sexual act is evil, not because we all have to make a promise of obedience to someone in our lives
BUT…
It is because people have realized that if you want to grow in love, sometimes your own will gets in the way
If you don’t have someone to be obedient to, it might hinder the development of love
You might need to temper or say no to the function of the sexual act in marriage in order to grow in love
Wealth is not evil in and of itself, but you may want to grow in love even more
So you might voluntarily embrace poverty
Are you ready spiritually to give more?
Is your heart alive?
Is your relationship with the Lord alive in the sense that you are not giving God your bare minimum?
You are not giving God your leftovers, but you want to give God your best
That is the call that many people who have made those vows are responding to
Not everyone is called to a live of poverty, chastity, and obedience
St. Francis De Sales made sanctity something that seemed possible for anyone
We sometimes may think that holiness is for nuns and priests
St. Francis De Sales reminded us that it is for every baptized Christian
Every person is called to be a saint
Christians are the ones who have received the grace in order to say yes to this
We are called to this
That is what God wants for us
BUT…
God does not want us all to do it in the same way
You are called to be a saint
You might not be called to the evangelical counsels
BUT…
We are all called to prayer, fasting, and almsgiving
These are not evangelical counsels
These are the acts of religion
Jesus commands all of us to do this at some point in our lives
The Church gives us an opportunity to do so regularly
All of these things are summed up in the law of love
To love one another as Christ has loved us
To love the Lord with everything we have
To love our neighbor as ourself
This is beyond our strength and ability
We cannot do this on our own
We need God’s help
Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!
Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!
Arrivederci!!!!
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