GROW AS A DISCIPLE
Late 19th-century English author G.K. Chesterton famously wrote, “Catholic doctrine and discipline may be walls, but they are the walls of a playground.” We can think of God’s commandments serving as rules governing primary school recess: by providing us with a structure in which we can explore, play, stumble, and get up again, they allow us to discover who God created us to be without wandering far from his love. The mosaic law that served the Jews in today’s first reading had given them the necessary parameters to live and grow within the covenantal relationship they had with God. Their unfaithfulness had led them astray, but upon their return from exile in Babylon they wept when hearing God’s word for the first time in generations. They knew the power of God’s commandments to keep them safe and secure in his love and recognized all they had lost by wandering. Their sorrow was turned to joy in the knowledge that God rejoiced in their return to him.
GO EVANGELIZE
Just as Ezra “opened the scroll so that all the people might see it” in today’s first reading, Jesus also “unrolled the scroll” and then rolled it back up so that all might see him. Ezra held the law in his hands, Jesus is the fulfillment of the law in himself. Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel, “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing,” were an infusion of new life breathed into a new creation by God who is outside of time. All things, all mistakes, all failures brought about in our human pride and disobedience were being refashioned into new brick and mortar to build God’s kingdom in and through Christ. Jesus, with his commandment to love one another as he loves us, gives us structure and a true freedom to discover who God created us to be; while helping us not wander far from this playground the Lord has given us. Knowing what holds us together, and relying on it to guide us, enables us to help build the kingdom even more for the glory of God and the good of others.
LEARN
Research a Catholic teaching you do not fully understand (for example, why Catholics attend Mass on Sundays). Ask God for the light to see how this teaching is life-giving instead of life-limiting. If you have the opportunity, share what you’ve learned with someone.
By The Faithful Disciple