Mt 5:17-19
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.
Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Praying to Follow the Law
“I have come not to abolish [the law] but to fulfill.” Just prior to this, Jesus gave us the Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount. So these are the new laws, and “whoever …. does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
A wise friend has a simple prayer (noted below) that I have recently adopted. In praying it, I can attempt to follow these laws. I simply need to be “…. willing to want and choose what better leads to the deepening of God’s life in me”, as stated in The First Principle and Foundation of St. Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises.
—Donna K. Becher, M.S. is an associate spiritual director at the West Virginia Institute for Spirituality, Charleston, West Virginia. Her training is rooted in the Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola.
Prayer
Begin your day as my friend does, saying:
“Hi, God. What can I do for you today?”
—Donna K. Becher, M.S.