6/10/2015 – Wednesday of the 10th week in Ordinary Time – Matthew 5:17-19

      The 5^th through 7^th chapters of Matthew’s Gospel contains the Sermon on the Mount. Today, we hear a continuation of those teachings.  Scholars believe that the intended audience of the Gospel of Matthew were Jews who were following the Way of Jesus.  These Jews wanted to be assured that their Jewish culture and traditions were not being abolished, but rather fulfilled in Jesus, that the Way of Jesus was not a rejection of Judaism, but rather its natural development and fulfillment.  We see later in the Sermon on the Mount what this means, that the importance is not put into following each little injunction of the law, but rather following the spirit of the law is the most important thing.

      Following and interpreting and pastorally applying the law is always a complex challenge for me as a priest.  The popes have taught in recent years that one of the gravest dangers we have in modern society is the pervasiveness of relativism, of thinking that there is no objective truth or law, that God’s law and moral principles are relative and changeable based upon our circumstances, such as our culture, our education, our age, our economic status, and our gender.  I believe in what Pope Benedict taught regarding relativism, but still, as a priest, I have to apply the law pastorally in different circumstances, and that is not easy at all. The Second Vatican Council asks the Church to read the signs of the times, to dialogue with society and to infuse society with the values of our faith.  Recently, we have become aware how a lot of our confirmation class had not had the Sacrament of Reconciliation since the second grade.  Many of them claim they did not have to go to the Sacrament again since they had it in the second grade during their preparation time for First Holy Communion – where they got that idea, I will never know.  We as a parish, and most importantly the parents, need to see how we change that, to be better examples and to put a structure in place that fosters the values and traditions and sacraments of our faith, and with the liturgy committee and with our parish staff, we are already working out a plan. It IS a challenge living out the values of our faith.  It is difficult at times.  It requires sacrifices.  It sometimes entails going against the secular ways of the world.  Yes, meditating upon God’s law and the covenant we have in Jesus gives us a lot to think about, doesn’t it?