Very often when we hear the phrase “keep his commandments” or some variation thereof, our minds almost automatically generate a list of dos and donts. Given that we have the Ten Commandments, this is no surprise. Without a doubt, being obedient to God requires doing some things and forsaking others. But it is never enough just to do or not do.
Jesus did not abrogate the Law, at least not in its entirety. Besides, the whole Torah was never binding on Gentiles. There are ends and then there are the means to realizing ends. In His life and teaching, the Lord sought to clarify that the 613 mitzvot, or rules, prescriptions and proscriptions, adherence to which marked one as observant, were means to the end of loving God with one’s entire being and loving your neighbor as yourself.
Why you do or not do matters. A truly good act, according to Mother Church, is one in which the chosen object is good in itself, it is done with the correct intention (love of God and/or neighbor), and one that is not coerced.1
Every sin flows from either not loving God or not loving your neighbor as you should. When making an Act of Contrition during the sacrament of penance, we acknowledge as much when we say, speaking to God: “In choosing to do wrong and failing to good, I have sinned against you whom I should love above all things.”
Following Christ, truly following Him, makes life complicated. Following Christ requires not adhering to any political ideology, be it of the right or the left. In terms of contemporary politics, a person who truly follows Christ by adhering to the Church’s social teaching is “liberal” on some issues and “conservative” on others. To someone steeped in secular politics or wholly bought into an ideology, this can seem incoherent.
By way of example and without getting too detailed, when it comes to waging war, the Church has well-developed criteria for assessing the justness of a war or what we’ve taken to calling euphemistically “a military action.” The inspired author of 1 John is correct. The world is awash in “the spirit of antichrist.”2 Hence, we must be very discerning.
Saint John Neumann, CSsR
Our Gospel from Matthew includes the very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. His message is simple: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”3 It really can’t be stressed too much that acknowledging and expressing sorrow for one’s sins is only the beginning of repentance. To truly repent means to change and being committed to change until you are completely transformed into the image of Christ.
Becoming one who believes in the holy name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, and loving others as He taught is simple to say and hard to do. Without divine assistance, without God’s grace, it is impossible. Saints, like Bishop John Neuman, who the Church remembers today show us.
Neumann was an immigrant priest who became the fourth Bishop of Philadelphia. While serving as Bishop of Philadelphia, anti-Catholic riots broke out several times over the arrival of large numbers of Irish Catholics. Being a stronghold of the Know-Nothing political party, known for its anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic prejudices, there was a lot of anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant violence.
It was in the face of this trying set of circumstances that Bishop Neumann launched the first Forty Hours Devotion on 26 May 1853 in Saint Philip Neri Church on Feast of Corpus Christi. Given the hostility of the Know Nothings, it was risky to gather large numbers of the faithful. In the face of danger, faith is not defiant. It is, however, courageous.
As we most of us begin this new year in earnest, our Gospel today invites each of us to make an examination of conscience. It is an invitation to commit ourselves to knowing what it means to follow Christ and committing to follow Him, to believing in Him and to loving others as He both taught and showed us.
1 Catechism of the Catholic Church, sec. 1750-1754.↩
2 1 John 4:3.↩
3 Matthew 4:17.↩
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