Word to the Wise
Wednesday, March 26, 2025 - 3rd Week of Lent - Wed
[Deut 4:1, 5-9 and Matt 5:17-19]"However, take care and be earnestly on your guard not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen, not let them slip from your memory as long as you live, but teach them to your children and to your children's children." [Deuteronomy] "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill." [Matthew]
The Jewish-Christian community for whom the Gospel According to Matthew was written was concerned about the status of the Mosaic Law which had formed them and sustained them for centuries before Jesus' life, death and resurrection. Was this whole world of observances and regulations to be abandoned, even if the Jews outside of Jerusalem found it difficult to completely observe? One may get an idea of the world-shaping status of the Mosaic Law by reading St. Paul's epistles. He was a zealous Pharisee whose encounter with the Risen Christ reshaped his attitude toward that law which he had so zealously observed. Observance of the law was the way to be "righteous" in the sight of God. His conversion made him see that faith in Christ and not observance of the Mosaic Law was the path to righteousness. A Jewish-Christian could continue to observe Mosaic Law and customs but this was not required for Christianity. Jesus' life, death and resurrection would be the focus of faith.
Our own Catholic tradition has faced a similar crisis since the Second Vatican Council changed a great many things that were once considered "law" in the life of the ordinary Catholic. A small but visible example was the "fish on Friday" requirement. We may still be "required" to do this in Lent as a penitential practice but not the rest of the year. Does the value of an observance disappear when it is no longer required?
Lent provides an opportunity to focus not just on what we are going "to do" or what the particular diocesan bishop imposes for the season, but on "the reason for the season" - the saving events of Jesus' suffering, death and resurrection. Observances that distract us from focusing on those events are not helpful. Lent does not exist for itself but to shed light on the path to stronger and deeper faith in Jesus Christ. AMEN