I
Shall Put My Laws Within Them
Dearly beloved, when our Lord Jesus Christ was preaching the Gospel of
the kingdom and healing various illnesses throughout the whole of Galilee, the
fame of his mighty works spread into all of Syria, and great crowds from all
parts of Judea flocked to the heavenly physician. Because human ignorance is
slow to believe what it does not see, and equally slow to hope for what it does
not know, those who were to be instructed in the divine teaching had first to
be aroused by bodily benefits and visible miracles so that, once they had
experienced his gracious power, they would no longer doubt the wholesome effect
of his doctrine. In order, therefore, to transform outward healings into inward
remedies, and to cure men’s souls now that he had healed their bodies, our Lord
separated himself from the surrounding crowds, climbed to the solitude of a
neighboring mountain, and called the apostles to himself. From the height of
this mystical site he then instructed them in the most lofty doctrines,
suggesting both by the very nature of the place and by what he was doing that
it was he who long ago had honoured Moses by speaking to him. At that time, his
words showed a terrifying justice, but now they reveal a sacred compassion, in
order to fulfill what was promised in the words of the prophet Jeremiah: Behold the days are coming, says
the Lord, when I shall establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and
with the house of Judah. After those days, says the Lord, I shall put my laws
within them and write them on their hearts.
And so it was that he who had spoken to Moses spoke also to the apostles. Writing in the hearts of his disciples, the swift hand of the Word composed the ordinances of the new covenant. And this was not done as formerly, in the midst of dense clouds, amid terrifying sounds and lightning, so that the people were frightened away from approaching the mountain. Instead, there was a tranquil discourse which clearly reached the ears of all who stood nearby so that the harshness of the law might be softened by the gentleness of grace, and the spirit of adoption might dispel the terror of slavery.
Concerning the content of Christ’s teaching, his own sacred words bear
witness; thus whoever longs to attain eternal blessedness can now recognise the
steps that lead to that high happiness. Blessed,
he says, are the poor in
spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. It might have been unclear to which
poor he was referring, if after the words Blessed
are the poor, he had not added anything about the kind of poor he had in
mind. For then the poverty that many suffer because of grave and harsh
necessity might seem sufficient to merit the kingdom of heaven.
But when he says: Blessed
are the poor in spirit, he shows that the kingdom of heaven is to be given
to those who are distinguished by their humility of soul rather than by their
lack of worldly goods.
Source: The
Liturgy of the Hours – Office of Readings
From a Sermon by Pope Saint Leo the Great
Image Credit Waiting for the Word
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