If\nthere is one thing that us \u201cmodern\u201d people hate, it is mandated morality. Give\nus any rule whatsoever – let it be on taxes, or business transactions, or\nenvironmental regulations – but please, don\u2019t tell us how we should behave\nmorally! In a positive sense, such an attitude stems from an increased\nawareness of individuality and authenticity. Moral legalism, and its various\nchildren, repulse us because we realize, somewhat unclearly, that true morality\ndemands freedom. We therefore react against \u201cmandated\u201d morality, thinking that\nit is inimical to true freedom. As it happens, our Lord disagrees with such an\nassessment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you love me, you will keep my\ncommandments <\/em>(Jn\n14:15). Such are the words of Christ. But what does Christ mean by these words?\nIn order to explore Christ\u2019s meaning, I will focus on two words from this\nverse: \u201ccommandments\u201d and \u201ckeep\u201d. In the latin text, this verse is as follows: Si diligitis me, mandata (<\/em>commandments) mea servabitis (<\/em>you will keep)<\/em>. We don\u2019t have to be budding latin\nscholars to recognize some of these words. Mandata<\/em>,\nor \u2018commandments\u2019, is related to the word mandate or mandatory. Servare<\/em>, or \u2018to keep\u2019, is related to\nsuch words as preserve or conservation. If we further analyze mandata<\/em>, we can see that it is a\ncompound word, meaning \u2018having been given by the hand\u2019 (man(u)-data<\/em>). Mandates, or commandments, therefore come from the\n\u2018hand\u2019 of an authority. If we look at servare<\/em>,\nwe can see that it connotes preservation<\/em>.\nTo \u2018keep\u2019 something is not simply to hold it, but to preserve, maintain and\nprotect it. Therefore, Christ is not simply saying that we should keep some\narbitrary rules, but that we must preserve, maintain and protect commandments\nthat come from the hand of God Himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In\nthe book of Deuteronomy, we hear about how God gives the law to Moses, who then\ngives it to the People of Israel. But specifically, Moses relates that the Lord gave me the two tables of stone written with the finger of God;\nand on them were all the words which the Lord had spoken with you on the mountain\nout of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly<\/em> (Deuteronomy\n9:10). In other words, the Law was written by the hand of God and was preserved\non stone tablets. Mandata mea servabitis<\/em>,\nyou will keep my commandments. Thus, the People of Israel preserved the Law of\nGod on stone tablets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In\ntoday\u2019s gospel, however, our Lord tells of a new way in which we are to keep\nthe law. In the past, the law had been external to the People of Israel. They\nkept the law, but they could not perfectly internalize the law and make it\ntheir own, for there was always a degree of separation between them and the\nlaw. Our Lord, however, informs us that something new is happening. The Hand of\nGod will once again descend upon the earth. However, this time, the hand will\nnot touch lifeless stone, but human hearts – and when the Hand of God touches\nthe human heart, the commandments of God will be transcribed into our very\nsouls. Mandata mea servabitis<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In our baptism, the Hand of God reached down from heaven and transformed our hearts. Therefore, as Christians, we have a holy obligation to preserve the law of God that has been written in our hearts. Mandated morality which comes from God, therefore, is not contrary to our freedom, but in fact aligns with the deepest laws of our heart. May God give us the grace to keep, preserve, maintain and protect this law forever. Amen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ian Mahood<\/strong> \u2013 St. Joseph Seminary, Edmonton, Alberta <\/p>\n\n\n\n Fot. Tim Marshall\/Unsplash.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 6th Sunday of Easter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2268,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,17,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-strona-glowna-najnowsze","category-strona-glowna-slider"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n