YE KNOW WHAT COMMANDMENTS WE GAVE YOU

 A REFLECTION FOR THE 2ND SUNDAY IN LENT

One of the first things we learn as a child is the list of the Ten Commandments given to Moses on Mount Sinai.  This was a long time ago, but they haven’t changed since, and when we prepare our children for First Communion, it’s with the same list that was written by God on those two tablets of stone.  The little Jewish children of the Old Testament learned the same list, the Christian boys and girls of the early Church knew them by heart also.

Thus it comes as no surprise when St. Paul doesn’t bother to remind the Corinthians in today’s Epistle what the Ten Commandments are.  He merely points out that they already know them.  “For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus.”  Not that the Lord Jesus gave us any new commandments—his mission was not to change the law but to fulfill it.  “Think not,” he said, “that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.”  And fulfil them he did, showing us how all the Ten Commandments can be summarized into two: to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves.  Two commandments, two tablets of stone given to Moses.  Both of them admonishing us that we must love.

To love God first and foremost above all things is the First of these Commandments.  The second and third commandments tell us how we must love God, by keeping his Name holy and by keeping his Sabbath holy.  Of all the ways that we are expected to love God, we may be surprised at the emphasis placed on these two directives.  But these are the very key to a loving relationship with God—by respecting his holy Name and setting aside time to pray.  By remaining conscious of his holiness, we maintain a respectful distance from God—a social distance if you like—and yet, through our constant conversation with him in prayer, we remain close.

The other seven commandments deal with our love of neighbor.  They list the things we must do and not do, and are straightforward enough to understand, even if sometimes difficult to follow.  St. Paul admonishes his readers in Corinth about just two of these commandments, the sixth and the seventh.  Many people find these two the most difficult to keep, as they deal with the deadly sins of lust and avarice.  Our love of pleasure and money often vie for pre-eminence with our love of God, and it is only our faith that keeps us on the straight and narrow by reminding ourselves that the rewards of the life hereafter are so much greater than the transitory satisfaction of our lower appetites and the other comforts of life.

Our Lord plainly said, “If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments.” With a few weeks of Lent to go, let’s fulfill our duty by persevering in his divine law.