Daily Retreat 05/15/06

2006 May 15 Mon: Easter Weekday/ Isidore the Farmer, mm

Acts 14: 5-18/ Ps 114(115): 1-2. 3-4. 15-16/ Jn 14: 21-26

From today’s readings: " We proclaim to you good news that you should turn from these idols to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and all that is in them.... May you be blessed by the LORD, who made heaven and earth.... The Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My name— He will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you."

How to Love God

In an age of unbridled anarchy, obedience itself is derided as demeaning - even divine obedience, as if the fulfillment of God’s commandments were somehow an impingement on human freedom. The tragedy of Eden’s fall is relived again and again as man gives ear anew to the Tempter’s tired tune: "God is a deceptive, divine despot who curtails human freedom for His own selfish ends!"

Emboldened by an audaciously exaggerated autonomy, man soon stops believing in God, or else starts treating Him as a senile grandfather, who, for the sake of good P.R., might be still occasionally honored in public, but can be safely ignored in private.

But in his Gospel and letters, St. John repeatedly emphasizes the point Jesus Himself brought up more than once: love of God always goes hand-in-hand with obedience of God’s commands. In other words, it is an outright lie for one to claim to love God while dismissing His commandments as "no longer applicable."

Divine mercy still can appeal to those who transgress God’s law but then repent; however, those who obstinately attempt to usurp or replace God’s moral laws with their own indulgences thereby define themselves as too self-reliant to ever stand in need of God’s commandments, corrections, or clemency.