Today’s first reading, taken from the book of Exodus, reminds us of the moment God gave the people of Israel what we now know as the "Ten Commandments". The psalm tells us that the Lord's words are spirit and life, and they are because they express the covenant that God has established with us and that can be well summarized in the words of the prophet Jeremiah: “Listen to my voice and act according to all that I prescribe; then you will be my people, and I will be your God.” (11, 4)
The commandments are the existential expression of our covenant with God. We received the gift of that covenant at our Baptism. That day God, who created us for relationship with Him, gave us eternal life without any merit on our part. We sometimes hear people say, "I don't deserve this," or "I deserve better." The truth is that we do not even deserve to exist. After our sins what we all truly deserve is hell for having wounded the Heart of He who loves us infinitely. Therefore, the gift of eternal life is a gift, as expressed by the Latin word gratia, grace, which means free.
God gives us eternal life, and in that life He gives us the strength to overcome the mystery of evil and live in the fullness of love that we call holiness. One who receives the gift of divine life expresses gratitude to God for that gift with a holy life. This is what the covenant with God consists of: that he gives us his life and we make it fertile and fruitful by living a holy life in observance of God's law. The psalmist says that a holy man finds true joy and wisdom in its fulfillment, that the word of the Lord has more value than the finest gold, is sweeter than honey from the comb, and that in it he discovers God's own love.
What a person who does not fulfill the commandments of God is expressing with his life is rejection of the covenant with the God who loves us. He rejects the gift of eternal communion with God because he chooses his own pleasure, or opinion, or will, over the pleasure, the truth, and the Will of God.
It is important that we unite the commandments of God with the covenant. In today's world, the law of the Lord is sometimes presented as opposed to love and compassion. This is a satanic deception. We are told that it is compassionate to end an innocent human life in the terrible crime of abortion. We are told that infidelity to the vows made to God in marriage is love. That if you love a person, you must accept the sexual orientation that he or she chooses regardless of his or her nature as a man or a woman.
Dear brothers and sisters, the commandments are the expression of true love. As has been said many times, a world where the Ten Commandments - not nine, not eight, not six, but all of them - were respected by all men and protected by all laws, would be heaven on earth. Can you imagine a society governed by justice, compassion, respect for the life and private property of all? In truth and harmony - where God always comes first and love of neighbor is the compass of all our decisions? A world where selfishness, unjust violence, social conflict, and pride have been eradicated forever?
We must always return to the path of the commandments. To be a Catholic is to accept these Ten Commandments as our Mother, the Church, teaches them. For its part, the Church must preach Christ crucified, who will always be foolishness for the Gentiles and a scandal for the Jews.
Today we ask the Lord to purify our hearts, as he purified the Temple in Jerusalem, with the strength of his merciful love that is always available to us in the sacrament of Penance. We ask that he purify the Church of those who do not seek the glory of God, but their own benefit. We ask that we see the Christian life as our greatest joy and that by walking the path of the commandments, we will be faithful to our covenant with God and thus deserve to be received one day in the eternal joys of Paradise.
