St. Toribio de Mogrovejo, bishop

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊    

Deuteronomy 4:1, 5-9

And now,

Israel, listen to the norms and laws which I teach that you may put them into practice. And you will live and enter and take possession of the land which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, gives you.

 See, as Yahweh, my God, ordered me, I am teaching you the norms and the laws that you may put them into practice in the land you are going to enter and have as your own.  If you observe and practice them, other peo­ples will regard you as wise and intelligent.

When they come to know of all these laws, they will say, “There is no people as wise and as intelligent as this great nation.”  For in truth, is there a nation as great as ours, whose gods are as near to it as Yahweh, our God, is to us whenever we call upon him?  And is there a nation as great as ours whose norms and laws are as just as this Law which I give you today?

  But be careful and be on your guard. Do not forget these things which your own eyes have seen nor let them depart from your heart as long as you live. But on the contrary, teach them to your children and to your children’s children.

 

Ps 147:12-13, 15-16, 19-20

Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.

 

Matthew 5:17-19

Do not think that I have come to annul the law and the prophets. I have not come to annul them, but to fulfill them. I tell you this: as long as heaven and earth last, not the smallest letter or dot in the law will change, until all is fulfilled.

So then, whoever breaks the least important of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be the least in the kingdom of heaven. On the other hand, whoever obeys them, and teaches others to do the same, will be great in the kingdom of heaven.

 

Gospel Reflection：

Transcending the Law

The Law and the Prophets are the two central pillars of faith in the Hebrew Bible. Jesus came not to displace either of them but to reconcile and absorb both into himself, and thereby completing them.

This is evident from the scene of the Transfiguration where Jesus is seen with Moses (for the Law) and Elijah (for the Prophets). It is the temptation of the binary human thinking to see them as 'either-or' instead of 'both-and.' Let us look at it this way: No great musicians are born great; they begin by learning the laws of music, one by one. And once they have truly mastered them, they transcend them and compose new forms of music.

This transcendence is no negation; but such a perfect absorption of the laws that they are able to transform them from inside out to create loftier music. And in their doing so, the law has served its purpose! Isn't it the same dynamic we find in the life of Jesus or of our many mystics?

 

"Time is not our own and we must give a strict account of it."

                                ＊＊＊   ST. TORIBIO DE MOGROVEJO ＊＊＊