After Mass today a local judge told me that a local lawyer used to have a license plate which read, "LOOPHOLE"...
Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time A
The
kids were lined up for lunch at the local Catholic school.
At
the head of the serving table was a large bowl of apples.
After
watching the bowl carefully for awhile,
Sr.
Mary Matilda wrote a note
and
posted it by the apples:
Take only ONE. God is watching!
The
children kept moving down the line,
and
at the other end of the table
found
a large tray of chocolate chip cookies.
Looking
at that tray,
one
of the boys quickly wrote a note
and
posted it next to the cookies:
Take all you want. God is watching the apples.
He’s a different kind of
religious leader, they say.
He has such compassion for
the poor.
He’s so gentle with the sick.
Have you seen how he embraces
little children?
He’s always talking about
God’s mercy
and about forgiveness.
He keeps reaching out to
those on the margins—
even to those who aren’t
religious at all.
If
I were to now add:
And he made the front cover
of Rolling Stone,
you’d
guess I was speaking about Pope Francis.
But
the above could easily have been said about Jesus—
and
probably was;
it’s
exactly the sort of thing which might have prompted
Jesus’
teaching on the law in this Sunday’s Gospel.
Why? Because it’s the sort of thinking
which
would have let a whole bunch of people
write him off much too easily.
We
have an awfully complicated relationship with rules.
That
goes all the way back to Adam and Eve.
God
gave them just one…and they still blew it.
And
ever since,
we’ve
been working hard to find ways around them.
Whether it’s our parents or the police,
Whether it’s our parents or the police,
Sr.
Mary Matilda or God himself,
we keep hoping we might get away with something—
we keep hoping we might get away with something—
whether
big or small:
to
break the rules, and not get caught.
Oh,
if we could only heal our relationship with the law!
Get
out on the open road,
and
we chafe at having to obey the speed limit…
…but
imagine how dangerous the roads would be
without
any traffic laws at all.
It’s
safe to say that very few people
enjoy
learning all the rules of spelling and grammar…
…but
it would be nearly impossible
to
communicate effectively without them.
(Of
course, texting and Twitter
are
already giving us a taste of that…)
And
there would be no sports at all—
leave
alone the Olympics we’re all enjoying—
if
it weren’t for the regulations.
We’ve
got this mistaken sense—
borne
of that original sin, of course—
that
laws are made to prevent us from having any fun,
to
prevent us from having a full and fruitful life…
…when
quite the opposite is the case:
law
is there to make life and joy possible
and—in
the case of God’s law—
to
make eternal life and joy possible for us.
What
if we decided to look at the law
not
as a burden, but as a gift?
What
if we chose to approach it as something set in place
not
to keep us down, but to lift us up?
You
see, that’s precisely God’s perspective on the matter!
The
Lord’s not watching over our shoulders like a petty tyrant
bent
on dictating what to do or not to
do.
Instead,
God has given us sure standards
for
becoming who we ought to be—
for
becoming the men and women he created us to be.
God
has done so because he loves us—
loves
us absolutely.
And
there’s nobody more qualified to show us the way!
It’s
been a year already since Pope Benedict announced his resignation,
and
the world’s still clearly in its honeymoon phase
with
his successor, Pope Francis.
But
listen carefully to what the Pope has to say—
and
not only to all the superficial reports about him
in
the popular press—
and
you’ll realize that he’s not “softening up”
on
Church teaching or discipline,
as
so many have hastily concluded;
in
fact, the Pope’s actually calling us to something more:
to
a more intense faith,
and
to a more radical way of living it out.
And
that’s just what Jesus did, too.
It’s not enough that you
avoid killing your brother;
you must also avoid angry
thoughts or hurtful words about him.
It’s not enough for you to shun
illicit sexual encounters;
lust first takes hold in the
eyes, the mind, and the heart—
and that’s where it must be plucked
out by the roots.
Don’t be concerned about
telling the truth only when you’re under oath;
always give your word and
keep it—period.
I haven’t come to abolish
the law; I’ve come to fulfill it.
was by no means a religious man.
Which
is why a friend was so surprised
to
see him with a Bible shortly before he died.
Asked
what he was doing,
Fields
replied, “Been lookin’ for loopholes…”
Let’s
stop looking for loopholes
in
the rules laid down for us by God,
and
instead start looking for guidance in living—
guidance
with an eternal guarantee.
Let’s
obey Gods commands
not
begrudgingly, not with heavy hearts,
but
with joy—
and
let’s teach others to do likewise.
They
are, after all, the pathway to life.
Blessed are they
who follow the law of the Lord!
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