The Law is a way of protecting us.

Continuing with O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, Verse 3:

O come, O come, great Lord of might,

Who to your tribes on Sinai’s height

In ancient times once gave the Law

In cloud and majesty and awe.

Rejoice!

In this verse we consider the awesome mighty and majestic Lord of all things, and it would be a good practice in prayer to humble ourselves before this God of great mystery and tremendous power. We don’t have enough transcendence and awe in our lives any more, when everything is being stripped down to the least common denominator and the only things to be worshipped are man-made gods of paper and stone and glass and computer chips. Muslims bow to the ground five times a day, every day, and we have nothing in our lives that can equal that gesture, and we are impoverished because of it. Can you possible create some kind of gesture in your own life, or at least, when you genuflect in the Church do so with greater heart-felt humility and fervor?

And so the awesome mighty God delivers the commandments of the Law to Moses from the mountain-top. Even in his most awesome state, he stoops down to us to give us something that is meant for our own well-being and protection.

Have you ever considered the 10 Commandments in this light? That they are there to protect us? I say this because the truth is that they contain the secret about how life actually works in this world. Those who break the commandments, even if they know nothing about them, end up getting hurt and hurting others in many ways. Actions have consequences. And our lives come with a set of instructions.

In all his awesomeness, our Lord looks upon us and cares for us, even if it has to be in ways that we struggle against from time to time.

Today would be a good day to reflect on the first three commandments and to see how they play themselves out in our lives.

Blessed Advent to you.

The next Reflection will be on Sunday, December 6.

3 brief reflections

There will be no reflection on Saturday, October 17.

Jesus was tempted by Satan and ministered to by angels.

See that as an icon:  By going through life blissfully ignoring the fact that we are being lured by Satan, we also blot out the reality that we are being ministered to by angels.

Gratitude and awe can be strong defenses against insidious pride. Humble Gratitude recognizes that something has been given, not earned. Awe recognizes the greatness of both gift and Giver and puts a man in his proper place: “Who is man that thou should care for him?”

We don’t sing because we have beautiful voices we want to show off. We sing because the singing itself cleanses us and touches our own souls in ways that words cannot. We sing because we have grown tired of not singing, of standing idly by while others seem to be enjoying themselves.