Archbishop Perez’s installation can be viewed online on Tuesday at 2pm on both our Cleveland Diocese website and also the website for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. We certainly unite our prayers to the Church of Philadelphia and to the Archbishop, that his ministry may be blessed. No doubt the Archbishop prays for all of us, as we await a new Bishop.
My guess is that sometime this week, after Tuesday, the College of Consultors of our Diocese will meet to elect a diocesan administrator, who will cover the day-to-day operations of the diocese until a new bishop is named by the Pope, which could be in a few weeks, a few months, most likely within a year.
Last week, we heard a powerful section of the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount: “you are the salt of the earth, you are the light of the world, the Lord said, speaking to his disciples atop the mount of beatitudes. Salt and light, that what we are called to be, that is how we are to act. Not hiding our faith, but letting the light of their faith shine in our charitable works and preaching. Not allowing our faith to lose its flavor, its saltiness, not letting our faith become stale or ineffective, but nurturing our faith, doing whatever it takes to ensure that faith is the prime motivation of our life.
This week, we hear a continuation of the Lord’s Sermon. And he continues to teach about who we are and how we are to act. Primarily, he speaks of our need to keep God’s commandments. “Therefore,” he says, “whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Who are we? Christians are those called to greatness by obeying and teaching the commandments.
When we hear that word “commandment”, what do you think of? I think of Moses atop Mt. Sinai, delivering to the Israelites the 10 commandments. The commandments of Moses were given by God, so that his people might be holy, that we might have guidance we need in restricting the tendencies of our fallen nature.
Why did God command that we should honor our father and mother? Because it’s not always easy. It’s not always easy to get along with family. Sometimes its harder to get along with family than it is with strangers.
Why did God command that spouses should not commit adultery? Because adultery is a perpetual temptation. In the New York Times, just this week there was an article arguing for what is known as “open-marriages” where spouses ignore the call to fidelity to each other and seek companionship outside their marriage. Not only is adultery being normalized in our modern day, it is being promoted. Not to mention the scourge of pornography and promiscuity rampant throughout our culture.
By evoking the commandments of Moses, the Lord in his Sermon on the Mount is calling his disciples in every generation to keep the commandments. It is not up to each generation to create a new morality. Morality is not based on popular opinion or majority vote. The commandments are not outdated relics of an ancient past. Rather, they are the timeless Word of God for people of every age. And it’s up to us to trust them and to keep them. As we heard from Sirach in our first reading today: “If you choose you can keep the commandments, they will save you; if you trust in God, you too shall live”
The Lord begins this section of his sermon saying, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets, but to fulfill them.” In other words, don’t believe that I’m doing away with the commandments just because I’ve come to forgive your sins. Yes, your sins are forgiven, but you still need to keep the commandments. And what’s at stake? The Lord is pretty explicit, “fiery Gehenna” is still on the table for those who give n in to anger and hatred and adultery and theft and fail to repent and remedy their sinful actions.
Christians, like the Jews before us, are called to be a people set apart from the rest of the world, set apart by our seriousness in keeping the commandments of God, our seriousness for sanctity. Now, this does not mean that we are joyless, that we become joylessly obsessive about worrying if we’ve violated the smallest part of the smallest letter of the law.
We should know the commands of God well enough that we know when we are following them or not. This is where our Catechism comes in handy. The Catechism gives wonderful and clear explanation of the Commandments, and the Magisterium, the Bishops in union with the Pope continue to apply those Commandments to new moral issues which are not specifically addressed in the Bible: In Vitro Fertilization and Contraception and so on.
We seek to follow the commandments of God because we love God. They come from Him and we want to live lives pleasing to Him.
To those who follow his commands, the Lord promises eternal life. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord, we sang in our Psalm today. “Blessed are they who observe his decrees, who seek him with all their heart.” For following the commands of God, we are promised Blessedness, in this life and the next.
What does this blessedness consist of? St. Paul answers that question in our second readings today. For those who love God, who conform to his wisdom: eye has not seen, ear has not heard, it hasn’t even entered into the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him. The blessedness prepared for the faithful is greater than our human comprehension.
For disregarding the commandments of God, we have everything to lose, but following them, we have everything to gain. But, again, as Sirach says, it is our choice: heaven or hell is our choice. “Before man are life and death, good and evil, whichever he chooses shall be given him.” May we choose…wisely….for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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