What exactly does “You shall not kill” mean? Yes, it means you shall not take a gun and shoot a person because he irritates you. Yes, it means you do not solve the problem of a troublesome pregnancy by having an abortion. But, what if someone has done me wrong and I tell the world about it on Facebook? What about misusing medication or failing to follow rules of health? They aren’t included in “You shall not kill,” are they?
The most helpful penance I was ever given in my life was the penance to read a chapter in the catechism on one of the 10 Commandments. It taught me what Jesus is saying in today’s Gospel: There is a letter of the Law, but God’s directions for living in the Kingdom of God encompass more than the obvious letter of God’s Law. Sin is not restricted to big violations of God’s standards of living.
The 10 Commandments, in fact, take up 106 pages in the current Catechism of the Catholic Church. All those pages describe the nuances, details, and applications of God’s design for a flourishing life. Even the elaboration on the 10 Commandments is not the whole of God’s design. The whole of Catholic teaching on how we live extends from page 421 through page 611 of the catechism in English. Those other pages describe sin, mercy, grace, virtue, and Catholic Social Teaching. Altogether they describe how to live so we form our conscience to match the 10 Commandments and the 8 Beatitudes.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus speaks more succinctly. But he and the other readings give us outlines of how we can live the flourishing life of the Kingdom of God—beginning today.
Matthew 5:17-37
There is an option today to read portions of this section of the Sermon on the Mount, so you may not hear all of Jesus’ elaboration on how to extend moral choices beyond the obvious of the 5th, 6th, and 2nd Commandments to the subtleties of conscience.
You might notice the gentleness of Jesus’ tone in “Blessed are the meek” is not in what he says today. Today there are some words that “mean business.” He says, “unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven;” “whoever is angry with his brother is liable to judgment;” “if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off.”
It is good to remember that Jesus is making his points in the ways that Jewish teachers did, so we need not chop off body parts, but that does not mean that Jesus is just discussing some philosophical questions. He means business.
Jesus means for us to expand letter of the law to standard in our conscience. Our conscience is our internal standard and mechanism for gauging what is right and what is wrong, then prudently determining HOW we do the right and avoid the wrong.
In many ways, in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus is founding Christian morality. He is saying, in effect, Christian morality INCLUDES what God the Father told the Israelites in the desert about how to live as God’s Chosen people. It also EXTENDS those 10 Commandments so they TAKE OVER a person’s mind and heart.
However, Jesus and our other readings are also saying: We must choose.
Sirach 15:15-20
The book of Sirach is part of Hebrew Wisdom Literature. Scripture scholars use content within the book to estimate it was written about 190 to 180 BC to Jewish people in Jerusalem.
Today’s selection focuses on each person’s right to choose. On one hand, we have free choice: “Before man are life and death, good and evil, whichever he chooses shall be given him.”
But we are not free to choose the consequences of our choices: “If you choose you can keep the commandments, they will save you,” but “whichever he chooses shall be given him.”
I can list numerous times when I have chosen something other than what God says in Law, Gospel, catechism, or conscience. Sometimes it was because I told myself “that’s too hard, I’m not up to it, that’s a standard for holier people, or, maybe for me, but some other day.” Sometimes it was because I truly did not know—I had not chosen to inform my conscience. Sometimes, it was because I let my emotions or my self-absorbed thoughts dictate what I did, even though I knew better. Sometimes, it was because I lied to myself and said in effect, “God’s book or church may say this is wrong, but it isn’t very wrong for me because of such and such circumstance.” To that last game we can play, Sirach says today: “No one does he command to act unjustly, to none does he give license to sin.”
Jesus tells us how to live in the Kingdom of God today. Sirach reminds us that we have both a right and a responsibility to choose to live by God’s design, because when we choose, we choose both our behavior and the consequences of our behavior.
I Corinthians 2:6-10
These verses from Paul’s first letter to the Christians in Corinth remind us that the Church and its evangelists teach God’s wisdom, not the wisdom of the world. God’s wisdom has a retirement plan the world does not offer—life with God in heaven forever.
Then, there are the last two lines which is where God speaks to me today: “This God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God.
How so? I’m sitting here chuckling, shaking my head at the beauty and the wonder and humor of God. I’ve been under a lot of professional pressure the past 6 weeks or so to write a curriculum quickly. The only way I’ve been able to do it is get up very early and write, take no days off, work and work and work and work. I’m almost done, but, well, to push myself like that I’ve pretty much lived on carbs, salt, fats, and soda, with a little green salad once a day to ease my conscience. I know that’s not good, and my conscience has been poking me from time to time about it. Nonetheless, as I think about Lent coming, I’ve been on the fence about how much I’m going to return to eating, exercise, and resting habits that worked for me well in the past.
Then, as I was preparing this reflection, right there under “You shall not kill,” my eyes fell on these words of the catechism
2288 Life and physical health are precious gifts entrusted to us by God. Wemust take reasonable care of them, taking into account the needs of others and the common good.
2290 The virtue of temperance disposes us to avoid every kind of excess: the abuse of food….
Applications
So, Lord, I did ask you for guidance about what to do for Lent. Your message, in light of all that I have just written, convicts me. I need to return to a disciplined life of temperance around food, rest, and exercise. My fasting this year will be from carbs, salt, soda, and sitting.
Several years ago, I took as my prayer project for Lent to read Part III of the catechism for Lent and Easter. For both seasons, it comes to about 4 pages a day. It was a WONDERFUL formation of my conscience. Something else presents itself this year to me, but, as I looked at my much underlined pages, they called to me, so I think I will add some in. There is such a beauty of perspective of God’s plan for a good life in those pages!
If you have never read Part III of the catechism, you might consider reading it…or, like me now, at least the parts that God shows you.
Prayer:
Lord, how beautifully and gently you lead me and teach me. Be with me and give me your fortitude and the Wisdom of the Spirit. Lead me, guide me, Lord.
