I remember talking to a wonderful man Mr. White ( real name is withheld) during my recent visit to the Gulf countries. He is a good catholic and at one point I got the feeling that he is more catholic than Christ himself. Mr. White has an attitude problem and that is his strict attitude towards the law. He is a perfectionist and demands perfection from his family but he expects forgiveness from God without any condition and he knows that God forgives every time he asks for forgiveness.
Mrs. White and their three children struggled with Mr. White in a hostile family atmosphere. He appeared pious and holy but his anger and arrogance at home was phenomenal. During our communication I tried to enable him to be in touch with his feelings but he kept saying “ But father, the Church teaches” and at last I said “think about what does God say about this” and I send him home with the assignment. He ret! urned and said “Please tell me father what God says”. I was least surprised. We opened the Bible and, I started reading Ps.32. I said to myself the following verse might help Mr. White. The message for Mr. White was “Happy are those whose crimes are forgiven, Whose sins are blotted out, happy the man whom the Lord considers sinless” Ps 32.1-2. Strict adherence to the law might have made him a blind follower of the law. He got tired of following the letter of the law and yet he couldn’t find a way out of that situation. I mentioned “A person is justified in Faith and not by doing something that the law prescribes” Romans 3.28. He stared at me and said “ But father the teaching of the church.” he continued. I said to myself “he appears to be more catholic than the pope”. Law became a monster for him, even blocking the vision of God and I said “God’s love is beyond the law”. H! e listened and that was the point of salvation for his family. We are the beloved and the beautiful handiwork of God. God created us by his holy hands. “We are God’s work of art” Ep.2.10 and we are conceived in God, not in man or by man willing it. “God created man in his own likeness, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them”Gen.1.27. God created us and blessed us “God blessed them ” Gen.1.28. Man is justified in Christ Man is justified by faith in Jesus. “Because it is by grace that you are saved by faith” Eph 2.9. We are not saved by what the law prescribes. The law is a good guide. It instructs us about right and wrong. “All that the law does is to tell us what is sinful” Rom.3.20. We are educated in the law. But salvation comes from and through Jesus. “He brought us to life with Christ” Ep.2.5 “ and gave us a place with him in Heaven, in Christ Jesus” Ep.2.6. Jesus is the way to the Father in heaven. “Through him, our way to come to the Father” Eph.18. Jesus is the way to salvation and happiness. We are “Justified through the free gift of his grace by being redeemed in Christ Jesus” Romans3.24. We have seen that our salvation is not by being strict observers of the law. When we state that justification is by faith, we do not abolish the law. Jesus himself said, “I didn’t come to abolish the law but to fulfill the law”. St. Paul has said that he is not rejecting the law by establishing salvation by faith in Jesus. Paul has ratified the law. “Do we mean that faith makes the law pointless? Not at all. We are giving the Law its true value” Romans 3.31 Very often we tend to forget that the law is only an instruction. The law doesn’t by itself guarantee salvation. Justification is in Jesus alone. “ A man is justified by faith and not by doing something the law prescribes” Rom3.28. Abraham was justified by faith. “Abraham has put his faith in God, and this faith was considered as justifying him”Romans.4.3. By his trust in the Lord, Abraham found justification “ Abraham put his faith in Yahweh, who counted this as making him justified” Gen.15.6. God is our point of departure and salvation is not in the strict observation of the law. Coming to our day-to-day lives, many of us follow the letter of the law. We fail to see the importance of the law. The law is to fulfill the commands of God. God is love. God is light. God is merciful. God is forgiving. But we may say, “ I have given you three chances and you failed. You are out”. Think about the times we are and were insensitive to the feelings of the people at our home, by being loyal to the laws. Most of the time, the in-fights in our families are because of our insensitivity to the members in the family. We are very loyal to the laws although we may not follow them. Many of us appear to be the guar! dians of the law, not followers of Jesus’ new commandment of love. The laws are man made. They might help us to attain God if we know that salvation is in and through Jesus. I am not discounting discipline in life; rather, my intention is to appreciate the mercy and goodness of our God. “Love each other as I have loved you” is the new command of Jesus. No matter how many people and worldly law accuses a person, if God doesn’t accuse us, we are happy. “Happy are those whose crimes are forgiven, whose sins are blotted out; happy the man whom the lord considers sinless” Ps.32.1 If God is with us no one could be against us. The law and the regulations are good but they do not grand us salvation. We are saved only in God. “ But now in Christ, you are brought very close, by the blood of Christ” Eph. 2.13. I do not in any way discount customs and traditions and popular beliefs. They are not written off. They are appreciated and they are given their due importance. Salvation is only in and through Jesus. God Bless Fr Thomas Mathew/ May 14th 2002/ USA ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: Click Here **************************************************************** This mail is generated from JOYnet, a Jesus Youth mailing list. 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