Think for a moment of someone who means a lot to you, someone you really love. It might be your husband or wife, it might be a very good friend. When you love someone you will do things that they ask you, because you love them. They may ask you for a favor which doesn’t really suit you, but you will probably do it anyway because you love them. Trying to please them is a way of showing that you love them.
Our
relationship with the Lord works the same way. We follow the way of life that He
taught us, because we love him. We try to keep his Commandments, because we
love him and we believe in what He has taught us. Trying to follow his teaching
is how we show God that we love him and not just because we love him, but also
because we believe what God teaches us gives us life. The path that He shows us
is the one that will help us the most and lead us to the greatest happiness.
Because
of what we call Original Sin, we do not enjoy the harmony within ourselves that
God originally intended for us. There is a struggle going on within us and one
of the effects of that, is that we don’t always see things as clearly as we
should. We often find it difficult to choose even what we know is right. We are
often suspicious of God and his teachings. After Adam and Eve’s rejection of
God, it says they were afraid and they hid from God. They had never done that
before. They were no longer convinced of his goodness.
We
are not always convinced that God is trying to help us, or that God has our
best interests at heart. Think for a moment of times when you see some
situation of terrible suffering on the news, a natural disaster, or with
someone you know, and you find yourself saying, ‘How can God allow this to
happen?’ as though God were to blame. You hear that so often. We often see his Commandments
as a burden, instead of a plan, or pathway, that will lead us to him, in whom
is our full happiness. We are not always convinced that God is good and indeed
that is one of the most common arguments that people give to deny the existence
of God: ‘If God is good and all-powerful, He would not allow the suffering that
we see and experience.’ If we choose to do evil, others will suffer. If God
stopped us each time we were going to cause suffering, we would not have free
will.
The
Jewish people, were chosen by God to make him known to the world. Over hundreds
of years, God formed a people, made himself known to them, gave them his law
and showed them that God is a moral God, who loves us, who is interested in us,
who created us to share in his happiness and who will hold us accountable for
our actions. That understanding of God was unique for ancient times. In ancient
times the general understanding of the gods, was that they were not
particularly interested in us. When the Jewish people began to present their
understanding of God as One interested in us and who loves us, it was unique.
God gave us the Commandments, to guide us and help us,
but they are Commandments, not suggestions. In the Old Testament, when God gave
the law to Moses, He said to the people,
“I call heaven and earth to witness against
you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the
curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by
loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to him; for
this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land
which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give
them…” (Deut 30:19 ff)
There is a tendency today, to believe that we can just
pick the parts of our faith that suit us and ignore the other ones. I’ve often
heard people saying, ‘God will understand,’ or, ‘I’m sure God doesn’t mind’. But
why would God give us commandments if He doesn’t mind? Nowhere in Scripture
does it say that God doesn’t mind. In fact it says the exact opposite. ‘If you
love me, you will keep my Commandments.’ That is also why there is so much controversy
with some of our politicians who say that they are Catholic, but who not only
refuse to keep some of the Commandments, but who actively work against them.
That is a contradiction. It is saying, ‘I love you Lord, but I will not keep
your Commandments.’
Much of what we see on TV is telling us that God’s
Commandments are not necessary and that much of what goes against his
Commandments is quite normal. And if we are told something often enough, we
will begin to believe it. That’s how advertising works. If you keep repeating
the message it will stick. It is
de-sensitizing us to sin and to what is wrong. Many movies today show life-styles
that go against many if not all of God’s commandments, and we watch them as
entertainment. Maybe we should ask ourselves is it right for me to watch a
movie that we know is going against God’s commandments?
Now
to go back to the words of Christ: ‘If you love me, you will keep my
words.’ And then He says, ‘Peace I leave
you, my own peace I give you.’ Peace is what follows when we live his words. We
receive peace, a deep peace which is the assurance of God’s presence, even when
we are struggling. The Lord knows how much we struggle to live by his teaching.
Everyone who tries to live it struggles, but the Lord is telling us not to be
afraid of the struggle, because it is the path that leads to heaven, the only
path worth following.
A
lot of the chaos we see going on around us at this time, is the effect of people
turning away from God. We see more and more anger, hatred, rage, even just on
the roads. It is disproportionate. When people turn away from God, who is our only
happiness, then they look for fulfilment in the world, where they will never
find it. And so they become more and more frustrated and angry, because nothing
earthly satisfies. They are not at peace and that anger and hostility spreads.
Sadly that is also one reason why suicide is so common, especially among young
people. Many do not have God, so when the world does not offer comfort and
strength for the difficult things that we face, then people feel they have nowhere
to turn and often despair. The very rules that we rebel against, such as the
Commandments, are actually what will bring us peace.
‘Peace
I leave you, my peace I give you. Not as the world gives, do I give it to you.’
Knowing that we are loved by God, that we have a purpose in being here and that
there is something wonderful that awaits us after death, that gives us peace.
When we have that inner strength, we are more at peace, because we know what we
are about and that peace comes from living God’s Commandments.
‘If
you love me, you will keep my commandments.’
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