Friday of Week 30 in Ordinary Time
Phi 1:1-11
Lk 14:1-6
“Is it against the law..”
Laws and Rules. We all love and hate them, especially when we live in Singapore, which has rules and laws that cover about every aspect of our lives; including one which I just found out — that digging through a public rubbish bin is actually a chargeable offence.
However the way we feel about laws, we all have to adhere to them to live peacefully. I know, when I was much younger, I was always trying to bend them or find ways to circumvent them. I guess we all went through that when we were in the rebel phase of life. So, a common adage during those times was “Rules are meant to be broken” or “You can do anything you want… just don’t get caught”. Aaaaahhh loopholes — many of us try to find them and justify our actions through them.
Some people also claim that our Catholic faith is also very stifling, with the many things that we supposedly cannot do, on top of the “Thou shalt nots” in the 10 Commandments. Some examples that people point out are:
“You Catholics cannot eat meat on Fridays”
“You Catholics cannot live together before marriage”
“You Catholics must have many children”
“You Catholics must go to Mass every Sunday”
“You Catholics must confess your sins to a priest”
I feel that there are many Catholics who feel that these laws prevent us from building a relationship with Jesus, and actually drive many Catholics to worship in other Christian denominations where the practices are less restrictive, more ‘fun’ and where they can be ‘themselves’. And as long as they declare that Jesus is their Lord and Saviour, they are guaranteed a place in heaven.
Does our faith have many rules? Yes. Are all of them difficult to follow? Well, some might be harder to follow than others. However, I feel that we always have to take a broader view and take a closer look at why these rules exist. I know that these laws exist to help us get closer to God and for us to reach our eternal home with Him.
As I get older and learn more about the faith, I realise that we always have to look at the context in which these rules exist. At one of the recent homilies by our parish priest, he mentioned that all these laws and the commandments are based on one thing — “Love”.
What is Love? God loves us and wants to be with us forever, but are we deserving of His eternal love? Do we deserve it? We all know that love is a 2-way street; and we have to put in the time and effort to know about the one we love and the one that loves us.
Love is not always easy but love always makes us want to be better. So, by knowing more about the rules and laws of our faith, and the context as to why those rules exist, we can have a better picture of what we can do to be better. To understand why we do what we do so that we can, in turn, share it with others we love, so that all of us can eventually share in the love that God has for us.
In today’s gospel, it may seem that Jesus is trying to find loopholes in the existing Law. But we also have to remember that Jesus also said that “He has not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfil it.” (Mt 15:7) And if we love Jesus as we profess, then we should imitate Him — who lived a life of total obedience to God’s law, and to follow the greatest commandments to love God and to love our neighbour. Only then will we be able to discover that among the laws we have to follow, is a Law of Love and not of inconvenience.
(Today’s OXYGEN by Calvin Wee)
Prayer: Heavenly Father, we love you and want to spend our eternity with You. Grant us openness of mind and hearts to be able to understand your Law and so understand more fully, your love for us and how we can love you more. Amen.
Thanksgiving: Heavenly Father, thank You for loving us and letting us love You. Amen.
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