Day 258: The New Law (1965-1969)

• It’s Day 258!!

• THE NEW LAW OR THE LAW OF THE GOSPEL

• Now only does the Law of the Gospel give us the Holy Spirit

• The New Law goes beyond actions and gets to the heart

• Paragraph 1967 says, “The Law of the Gospel ‘fulfills,’ refines, surpasses, and leads the Old Law to its perfection. In the Beatitudes, the New Law fulfills the divine promises by elevating and orienting them toward the ‘kingdom of heaven.’ It is addressed to those open to accepting this new hope with faith-the poor, the humble, the afflicted, the pure of heart, those persecuted on account of Christ-and so marks out the surprising ways of the Kingdom.”

• Let’s pray!!

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we give you praise and thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you for giving us not only the Law, but giving us your Holy Spirit, that we can live out your Law. Lord God, when we get discouraged by our weaknesses and discouraged by our sins, when we see the Old Law or the New Law, and are intimidated by it, give us the grace of courage, the grace of perseverance. Give us the grace of hope, knowing that it is not up to us, it is up to you to give us the grace to move forward. And that you will to give us the grace to move forward. As long as we are open to it, Lord Go, you pour out your grace and your strength and your courage and your hope into us. So help us to be open. Help us to continually call out to you, even after we have fallen, even after we have failed to live up to this New Law, the New Law of grace. Help us to be open, and never give into discouragement or defeat. To never give in to despair or to the temptation to quit. Lord God, be with us now, and be with us always. Be with us in our greatest moments. Be with us at our worst moments. And be with us now. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen”

• So there we have it!!

• Paragraph 1965 says, “The New Law or the Law of the Gospel is the perfection here on earth of the divine law, natural and revealed. It is the work of Christ and is expressed particularly in the Sermon on the Mount.”

• The limitation of the Old Law is that it was a preparation

• The second limitation is that it does not give us the power to actually fulfill it

• Paragraph 1966 says, “The New Law is the grace of the Holy Spirit given to the faithful through faith in Christ.”

• “I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel. I will put my laws into their minds and write them on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

• How does God fulfill this?

• Because in the New Law God gives us the power to live it out

• How?

• Where?

• Paragraph 1966 continues, “It words through charity; it uses the Sermon on the Mount to teach us what must be done and makes use of the sacraments to give us the grace to do it...” 

• Jesus says many things in the Sermon on the Mount

• “You have heard it said, you shall not kill your brother. But I say anyone who grows angry with their brother is liable to judgment.”

• So that is a deeper law that is trying to get to the human heart

• God teaches us what must be done in the Sermon on the Mount

• How do we do it?

• Sacraments to give us the grace to do it

• This works through charity

• Jesus Christ is the source of grace

• How does He communicate that grace to us?

• Through the Paschal Mystery, His Life, Death, and Resurrection

• How do we come into contact with the life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus?

• Through the sacraments

• We can never forget that Jesus is the one who gives us the ability to live this life

• He gives us this ability through the grace of the sacraments

• NEVER EVER FORGET THAT!!

• Or else we will find ourselves wandering around and wondering where we will get this grace from

• We look to the Mass, to the heart of everything in the Eucharist

• We look to Reconciliation to be healed

• We look to our Baptism and to the times where we reclaim our baptismal graces by restating and renewing our baptismal promises 

• All these sacraments are the ways we have access to the grace that God gives us in order to live this new life

• St. Augustine says in Paragraph 1966, “If anyone should mediate with devotion and perspicacity on the sermon our Lord gave on the mount, as we read in the Gospel of Saint matthew, he will doubtless find there…the perfect way of the Christian life…This sermon contains…all the precepts needed to shape one’s life.”

• What is perspicacity?

• It is understanding, discernment, penetration

• If you meditate on the Sermon on the Mount with devotion, where you have a heart oriented towards the Lord and with understanding, with that perception of what is really being said

• This is a challenge to live the moral life

• Sometimes we think of the challenge of certain areas 

• Like the 6th and 9th Commandments aka the ones regarding sexual behavior

• BUT…

• If we paid attention to the Sermon on the Mount and the number of times Jesus gives incredibly difficult teachings

• “Love your enemies”

• “Do good to those who hate you”

• “If someone asks you to carry their burden for a mile, go for two miles”

• This is not stuff we naturally do

• We probably come across these more often than we come across violations of the 6th or 9th Commandments

• Go back and read the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew Chs 5-7

• This is the teaching of Jesus

• What did Jesus teach?

• He taught love, tolerance, kindness, including everybody

• Yes and no

• Re-read the Sermon on the Mount as if it was addressed to us right now

• “This is how I want YOU to live.”

• “This is how I need YOU to live.”

• When we go back to do this, we will be very convicted 

• Paragraph 1967 says, “The Law of the Gospel ‘fulfills,’ refines, surpasses, and leads the Old Law to its perfection. In the Beatitudes, the New Law fulfills the divine promises by elevating and orienting them toward the ‘kingdom of heaven.’ It is addressed to those open to accepting this new hope with faith-the poor, the humble, the afflicted, the pure of heart, those persecuted on account of Christ-and so marks out the surprising ways of the Kingdom.”

• Can we see ourselves in them?

• Are we among their number or are outside their number?

• We want to be among those that Jesus says are blessed

• Again, let’s go back to the Sermon on the Mount and allow Jesus to speak directly to US

• This is what Jesus NEEDS you to do

• When we find ourselves saying we can’t do this

• That we don’t have the ability to forgive like that

• That we don’t have the ability to pray and gives alms and fast like that

• How can we move forward?

• THROUGH THE GRACE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT!!

• That is what we have to do

• We rely upon the grace of the Holy Spirit for EVERYTHING

• Where do we get the grace of the Holy Spirit?

• Paragraph 1966 continues, “It words through charity; it uses the Sermon on the Mount to teach us what must be done and makes use of the sacraments to give us the grace to do it...” 

• Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!

• Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!

• GO READ THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT!!

• Check ya later!!