Lent Year A-II Day 22

Mt 5 17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come
not to abolish but to fulfil.

18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not
one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is
accomplished. 19 Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments,
and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but
whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
According to the World Happiness Reports, our happiness is increased when we can care, and when we
trust others to be good to us (https://www.worldhappiness.report/). To say with Shakespeare that “care
is twice-blessed” in Merchant of Venice, is the human experience of St Francis’s insight that it is in
giving that we receive. We are wired to love and be loved. God wired us for Himself; for our happiness,
which is only in Him as our source; the explanation for why there is anything at all, and not nothing.
Jesus is The Word, and The Word is God, who became flesh and dwells among us (Jn 1:1-4, 14). And
all this because God wants to be so intimately close to us, that we may have fullness of life, for we come
from Him and are entirely His (Ps 139, Jn 3:16, 6:52-59, 20:31). Jesus is the core, organising principle
of the universe, that gives life and meaning to everything. Jesus is the principle of attraction. Jesus is
the Good. Jesus is Love. He is the Law of Life. It is Jesus we ultimately seek. And when we have Jesus
as our organising principle, and live in Him, we find the peace and joy that only He gives. This has been
the experience of the Saints over the centuries. Shouldn’t it be ours too?
God’s Law is written in our hearts (Jer 31:33, Ez 36:26, Rom 2:15, Jn 14:26, 63, 68). Yet, we can choose
to rebel, in pride, when we reject God, and those gentle promptings of the Holy Spirit; but then we
become restless. Rebelling against God soon becomes a pathology in us. We become unwell in our
emotions; in our soul, mind and body. But the Holy Spirit never gives up on us. The Holy Spirit is in
us, teaches us everything, prays in us, and we call God Abba, meaning Father; He is that intimate to us
(Jn 3:5-6, Rom 8:15, Gal 4:6, 1 Cor 6:19-20). By responding to temptations with Scripture, remaining
faithful to God, remaining obedient and loyal, clinging to God in love, Our Lord Jesus Christ taught us
how to live (Mt 4:1-11, 26:39, Lk 4:1-13). “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom” (Prov
9:10). For the Lord’s words are spirit and are life (Jn 6:63,68). Eternal life begins here on earth when
we know God and our Lord Jesus Christ (Jn 17:3); when we have fullness of life and our joy is complete
in Him, who has reconciled us to God through an eternal covenant (Jn 10:10, 15:11, 20:31, Mt 26:28).
Jesus reveals God to us (Dei Verbum, 2). He “reveals man to man” and is “the perfect man”; He reveals
to human beings what it is to be human; and is the perfect image of the invisible God (Gaudium et Spes,
22). Whoever has seen Jesus, has seen God (Jn 10:30, 14:9. What Jesus is by nature, we are by adoption,
through being born anew in baptism, as children of God, to increasingly resemble Him (Jn 3:3-6).