From the responsorial psalm: “Glorify the LORD, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion. For he has strengthened the bars of your gates; he has blessed your children within you. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 5:17-19, today’s readings)
Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.”
Jesus goes on to tell the disciples that to break the commandments is to step away from God’s love but to keep the commandments and teach others to keep them is to remain in his love. This same source of love came from God, when he gave the commandments to Moses for the sake of the Israelites “so that you may observe them in the land you are entering to occupy. . . . to [teach] your children and to your children’s children.” Jesus, the Word of God, points to God’s commandments and is the giver of all that is just and good.
God, broaden my understanding of who Jesus is in relation to the law, to the commandments. He did not come to overturn or destroy but to bring them to fulfillment. The commandments are your gift given to humanity and at the same time spoken into the hearts of each person you call by name. Give me the grace, Lord, to know in my heart that Jesus is the ultimate Word spoken and that he calls us to everlasting life with you. The Gospel acclamation is “Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life; you have the words of everlasting life.” Jesus, living Word of God, I trust in you!
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.