Readings:
1 Kings 18:20-39
Gospel, Matthew 5:17-19
Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets.
Reflection:
Keeping Laws can be a drudgery and can blind us to the values they protect. Enshrined in Laws are what generations have thought and taught about how to be a community; how to be a human; how to keep our hearts and minds focussed on what really matters.
Jesus, in Matthew’s gospel is presented as the ‘new Moses’ – one who acts in God’s ways and brings things to completion. Thus, building on the Law of Moses and Prophets we see their importance and value. However, we also see their limits! Jesus proposes to live the law of love which knows, “no limits”. In and through his relationship with God, he shows us through his life, passion, and death what it means to live in the image and likeness of God. (Gen 1:26)
So, for us today. It is timely to recall the Pentecost experience and realise that in faith, love and trust we don’t have to live a life of fear. Rather, one that let’s go and allows God to live through us. As we shall read in Matthew 25 – “in so much as you did this to one of these little ones you did it to me”
So, in the spirit of Passionist Family Group Movement, it is to live and love practically i.e. to be “A Family for All”.
Paul Traynor is married to Clare and has two children Sam and Lucy. He lives in Greytown which is in the Wairarapa Region on the North Island of New Zealand. Paul is currently working as the National Passionist Family Groups Coordinator for Aotearoa, New Zealand.