“But teach them to your children and to your children’s children...” – Deuteronomy 4:9

      When I meet parents for coaching, I share with them a life lesson I learned from my sister, a preschool teacher: “Our kids pick up from our actions more than we realize.”

       There’s a video of five-year-old toddlers following every move of their adult companion.

       Driving mom gives a dirty finger, son gives a dirty finger.

       Dad raises hand at mom, son raises hand at baby.

       The good side of this is that children learn good things the same way. They learn kindness, respect, forgiveness, humility, caring, love, happiness, celebration, confidence, persistence, aspiration when they see you do it.

       Whatever we know to be good, to be true, to be kind, to be loving, let’s do it even in the simplest way. Smile. Greet good morning. Say thank you. Clean as you go. Let others pass through before you.

Lord, as Your child, let me show Your love through my actions.

St. Nicholas Owen, pray for us.

If Christians live out their faith, their witness will be so powerful that it can transform the world. The Gospel has this inherent power. To unleash this, we need to humbly ask God for the grace to help live our Christian life faithfully.

1 Moses spoke to the people and said: “Now, Israel, hear the statutes and decrees which I am teaching you to observe, that you may live, and may enter in and take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. 5 Therefore, I teach you the statutes and decrees as the Lord, my God, has commanded me, that you may observe them in the land you are entering to occupy. 6 Observe them carefully, for thus will you give evidence of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations, who will hear of all these statutes and say, ‘This great nation is truly a wise and intelligent people.’ 7 For what great nation is there that has gods so close to it as the Lord, our God, is to us whenever we call upon him? 8 Or what great nation has statutes and decrees that are as just as this whole law which I am setting before you today? 9 “However, take care and be earnestly on your guard not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen, nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live, but teach them to your children and to your children’s children.

R: Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.

12 Glorify the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion. 13 For he has strengthened the bars of your gates; he has blessed your children within you. (R) 15 He sends forth his command to the earth; swiftly runs his word! 16 He spreads snow like wool; frost he strews like ashes. (R) 19 He has proclaimed his word to Jacob, his statutes and his ordinances to Israel. 20 He has not done thus for any other nation; his ordinances he has not made known to them. (R)

The Law is important to our Christian life. It is the basis of our moral principles that are derived from the call to love. The Law helps us identify the root causes of sin but it does not empower us to follow them. We need the grace of Jesus and the Holy Spirit to help us.

Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life; you have the words of everlasting life.

17 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. 18 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. 19 Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.”

think: “Be obedient even when you do not know where obedience may lead you.” - Sinclair Ferguson

Read the Bible in one year Genesis 25-27

T O D A Y’S BLESSING LIST

thank You, Lord, for: ______________________________________________________

The LAW OF LOVE

We can speak of fulfilling the law in two ways: by doing everything that is asked or by completing that which is missing. Jesus completes the law of the Old Testament with the new law of love: to love one another as He has loved us. Jesus fulfills the law not by simply fulfilling each of the many precepts, but by showing where all of the precepts have their end: in loving God above all things. In other words, when we obey the law of love, we are fulfilling all of the laws.

           The law of love reaches to the ends of the earth. There is no created being in the universe who is outside the law of love that Jesus has come to teach us. When Jesus uses the metaphor, “the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter,” He is showing us the completeness of this law. Love and its demands reach to the farthest ends of the universe, to the smallest created being, and to the end of time.

     The commandments of the old law as we find them in the Ten Commandments (e.g., Thou shall not kill; Thou shall not commit adultery; etc.) are serious transgressions but easy to define since they are external actions. Christ’s commandments (e.g., to not show anger; to not lust in the heart; to forgive our enemies; etc.) have more subtle expressions. They touch internal areas — the heart — which others cannot see. Because of this, they are more difficult to obey.

           Living these commandments with the proper motivation and a considerate, dedicated attitude is what makes a person great. Having love as the motivation of all our actions not only helps us make it to heaven, but also will win us a greater share in God’s happiness and glory. Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD

---------- REFLECTION QUESTION ----------

Are you convinced in your heart and in your actions that the law of love asks you to love all people — not just your family, friends and those who rub you the right way?

Lord, do not let me be content to simply do the minimum that my faith asks of me. Do not let me be content simply with avoiding grave sin. Help me to live the fullness of the law of charity. I want this Lent to be a time of growth in love. Amen.