Ordinary Time

January 19, 2022

Scripture Reading: Psalm 19

The law of the Lord is perfect,
  reviving the soul;
the decrees of the Lord are sure,
   making wise the simple;
the precepts of the Lord are right,
   rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is clear,
   enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the Lord is pure,
   enduring forever;
the ordinances of the Lord are true
   and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
   even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey,
   and drippings of the honeycomb. –Psalm 19:7-10 he

Sister Joan Chittister’s book The Ten Commandments: Laws of the Heart helped me understand the importance of law in our lives while delving into the breadth and depths of the Ten Commandments. I grew up on a farm. One evening while watching TV, we saw an ad for a Gubernatorial candidate showing him walking idyllically through a pasture with grazing cattle holding his wife’s hand staring up at the blue sky. My dad said he could never vote for anybody who does not have sense enough to watch where he was stepping in a pasture full of cows. Laws and rules formed from experience ease our paths in life.

God wants the very best for all of God’s creations including each of us, and through God’s various emissaries shared guidance toward that end. The Ten Commandments are the most practical advice we could ever receive. Think about how much better our world with be if we had ever all worked at following them. Instead of practicing sage advice we either use them to establish self-righteousness or to judge others.

A few thousand years later God sent Jesus who introduced us to grace establishing that God’s love is our salvation and God’s supreme commandments to love God and love our neighbors as ourselves encompasses all the laws. Those laws remain relevant as they help us discern how to apply love in our daily lives.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for the gift of your grace and for the laws that exemplify our living in your love. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised. Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.