Word to the Wise
Wednesday, June 10, 2009 - Wednesday in the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
[2 Corinthians 3:4-11 and Matthew 5:17-19]Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.
The kind of tension between two different New Testament statements that captured my attention yesterday is once more presented today in the contrast between what St. Paul says in regard to the "new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter brings death, but the Spirit gives life." One response to this is to note that the audience for St. Paul in Corinth is not the same as the "Jewish Christian" audience for the Gospel of Matthew. The latter would be very concerned about the role of the Mosaic Law in the future of the new faith community. The folks in Corinth would not have been raised and nurtured in that way of looking at things, but there were preachers coming after St. Paul and insisting on the old observances. Paul was anxious to keep their influence at a minimum. Ultimately we are confronted with the question of how we are to express faith as a community. When the Second Vatican Council reshaped the celebration of the Eucharist, many Catholics felt as if their religion had been taken from them. The recent gestures of Pope Benedict XVI in allowing the older celebrations to take place caused a reaction on the part of those who either were glad the old was gone or who had never known the old. Pope Benedict seems to be saying that there is room for both. Tension of this kind can be fruitful or destructive. The scriptures remind us that the challenge is an old one and the Holy Spirit is hard put to keep its children from an "all or nothing" position. I pray the Spirit can keep up the effort! AMEN
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