God's Law of Love

 In today's responsorial psalm, Psalm 19, we praise the Lord for having "the words of everlasting life,"
 and for the fact that His law "is perfect,...refreshing the soul,...giving wisdom to the simple,...rejoicing the heart,...[and] enlightening the eyes."  

God's law is written on our hearts, a law that Jesus summarizes into two parts. The first part is: "Love the Lord, your God, with your whole heart, your whole soul, and your whole mind."  The second part of the law is like it: "Love your neighbor as yourself."    In short, the law that God has written on our hearts is the law of love!  And even more amazing is the truth that God does not ask us to do anything without giving us the ability and the grace to do it!

You and I might think: how foolish is God to write the law of love on the hearts of humankind! From the very beginning of the Scriptures, we prove how foolish and weak humankind is! Our first parents succumb to temptation and are cast out of paradise. Cain kills Abel and the earth that received Abel's blood rebels, making it difficult for humankind to cultivate crops without encountering thistles and weeds and rocks and parched, and sometimes, land overly saturated with rain! Bringing new life into the world is also painful and risky! Yes, the history of humankind's inhumanity to humanity flourishes throughout the Scriptures and into this mess God sends His only begotten son, who, in turn, is crucified by men in authority jealous of Him and threatened by Him, even during His infancy when Herod vowed to kill Him even then.

In today's second reading, 1 Corinthians 1: 22-25, Paul reminds us, however, that "the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength."  In eyes without faith, however,  God's plan seems crazy!  We may argue with God that our history proves how fickle we are, how irresponsible and prone to evil and that it is not safe for the Son of God to become one of us.  And God says, perhaps: It is not about safety as you define it but for your eternal safety, your salvation. My Son will show you how to deal with  man's inhumanity to humankind: how to live in a way that you grow strong in grace, in a way that you experience the power of my resurrection/my triumph over evil.

As with my Son, God says to us, I will show you how to surrender to My plan for your salvation. You will learn that I have "the words of everlasting life," and that My law of love "is perfect,...refreshing the soul,...giving wisdom to the simple,...rejoicing the heart,...[and] enlightening the eye."

O Jesus, may I learn this truth over and over and over again!