As naturally social creatures we need laws and regulations but these are only ways of coping with the fallen nature of humanity: they are not the solution. The true life of virtue or the “practice of integrity” must come from within. It is not enough to have the skin-deep morality of the Scribes and Pharisees and to adhere to every rule blindly. We must exceed it! Our Lord shows that the crime of murder stems from the interior state of anger. We must combat the interior causes of our sins; not just anger but greed, lust, vanity and all the other emotions and feelings that prevent us from truly flourishing in friendship with God. It is not enough to keep these attributes “in-check”, to limit their consequences by laws and penalties. We must go to the source. During this season of Lent, we need to purify and refine our spirits, through prayer, fasting and alms-giving. We need to have a “spiritual health-check” and begin afresh. As we follow Jesus to Calvary, the ultimate altar of sacrifice, we must make peace with our neighbours, ourselves and God. Then we may stand in front of the Cross in good conscience and through the Cross, those “who renounce all previous sins, shall certainly live”.
I hope and pray that these Meditations are being read and thought about by many; because they have certainly given me at least one valuable new thought for every day of Lent so far, and stimulated all sorts of mental explorations into my approach to penitence.
ReplyDeleteThis is just a brief comment to say a sincere 'Thank You' to all of you in the Studentate for this splendid, and effective, preaching.