One Minute Reflection – 26 March – “The Month of Saint Joseph” – Wednesday of the Third Week in Lent – Ferial Day – Exodus 20:12-24 – Matthew 15:1-20 Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/
“Hypocrites, well did Isaias prophesy of you, saying, ‘This people honours me with their lips but their heart is far from Me and in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrine, the precepts of men.’ ” – Matthew 15:7
REFLECTION – “The law of the spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has freed you from the law of sin and death” (Rm 8:2) … Saint Paul says that the Law of Moses has been given to prove our weakness and not just to prove it but, to increase it and thus, force us to find the Doctor. … “Where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more” (Rm 5:20; cf 3:20) … But why did the first Law, written with the Finger of God (Ex 31:18), not give us the essential assistance of grace? Because it was written on tablets of stone, not the tablets of flesh, that are our hearts (2 Cor 3:3) ….
It is the Holy Spirit Who writes “the Law of the Spirit of life” not on stone but in the heart; this Law of the Spirit oL life that is in Jesus Christ in Whom the Passover has been celebrated in truth (1 Cor 5:7-8), has delivered you from the law of sin and death. Do you want to have proof, of the manifest and certain difference separating the Old Testament from the New? … Hear what the Lord spoke by the mouth of one of the Prophets. … ”I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts” (Jr 31:33). So if God’s Law is written in your heart, it does not bring forth fear [as at Sinai] but pours a secret sweetness into your soul.” – St Augustine (354-430) Bishop of Hippo, Father and Doctor of the Church (Sermon 155, 6 ).
PRAYER – From all perils of soul and body defend us, O Lord, we beseech Thee and by the intercession of the blessed and glorious ever Virgin Mary, Mother of God, of blessed Joseph, of thy blessed Apostles Peter and Paul and all the Saints, graciously grant us safety and peace that all adversities and errors being overcome, Thy Church may serve Thee in security and freedom. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).
AnaStpaul 