God’s Living Word for Today - Wednesday, June 10, 2020

God’s Living Word for Today - Wednesday, June 10, 2020

[1 Kgs 18:20-39 and Matt 5:17-19] 
But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments
will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.”

There is an important lesson for us Catholics in the Gospel today.  The love of God and neighbor, which comes to us from the Law of Moses, remains in effect.  The essential elements of Catholicism: creed and sacraments have taken the place of the rest of the Law of Moses.  But there is an incredible variety of devotional forms that have also developed - the rosary being an obvious example.  These are very much a part of daily Catholic life, but are not the same as the Creed and the Sacraments.  This has been brought home to us dramatically in the requirements imposed by the coronavirus crisis when the celebration of the sacraments has been curtailed by the need to stay healthy.  Our devotional life has been a source of comfort, but the return of normal sacramental celebration is what we long for.  Our faith remains intact, but our expression of it has been stifled to some extent.  We should remember above all that the coronavirus cannot conquer love of God and neighbor which we can find in Matthew 25:31-45: "When I was hungry, etc......"  This, too, requires caution just as the requirements of Church attendance does right now, but all of this remains for our reflection and determined effort to continue. 

Let us continue to live out in our daily lives the great commandment of love of God and neighbor as we go forward in the current groundswell to end racism seeking to preserve peace and justice for all. Let us teach by our example so our children may learn that ‘But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.”

Father Dennis