Word to the Wise
Friday, July 28, 2017 - Friday in the 16th Week in Ordinary Time
[Exod 20:1-17 and Matt 13:18-23]"I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery. You shall not have other gods besides me." [Exodus]
Today we are handed the Ten Commandments. Read the whole passage, then close your Bible (or misalet) and ask how many you remember? These commandments shaped and continue to shape the moral framework of Jewish and Christian life. When the young man came to ask Jesus what more did he (the young man) have to do to gain eternal life, Jesus asked him if he knew the commandments and that if he followed them, he would be fine! The additional challenge was to accept the fact that in Jesus' he would find all the commandments personified.
Today, these commandments seem to be a threat to the secularism (a "religion" all its own) that is slowly pervading our civil society. Lawsuits abound where these commandments are displayed! That is testimony to the power of God's law. As one billboard I saw once said: They are the Ten Commandments and not the Ten Suggestions.
Ask yourself how your own life is shaped by these commandments. Can any group or society exist in peace without observing them? The law of love of God and neighbor is the supreme organizing principle underlying the Ten Commandments, but those ten remain to help us understand how love is practiced on a very basic level. We cannot feed the hungry, etc. with any sincerity if at the same time we are killing, lying, committing adultery, dishonoring parents...... The Ten Commandments continue to command us. AMEN