613 COMMANDMENTS, SUMMARIZED INTO 2 IT MUST HAVE BEEN quite an effort, or perhaps an ordeal. For the people of the Old Testament, such must have been the experience as they put into mind, let alone followed, 248 positive (Thou Shalt) and 365 negative (Thou shalt not) commandments enumerated in the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament. Collectively known as The Mosaic Law, they were the embodiment of the people’s religious obligations and civil laws. The Pharisees were one of the guardians of these laws in the time of Jesus. They advocated strict adherence to these laws. Known as chasidim—loyal to God, or loved of God—the Pharisees became so “devoted and extremist in very limited parts of The Mosaic [Law] that they became blind to The Messiah when He was in their very midst.” (Wayne Blank, keyway.ca/htm2002/pharisee.htm) The Pharisees in many occasions would confront and test Jesus. One of them, a scholar of the law tested him by asking, Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest? The Pharisee must have been thinking, “Sige nga, Hesus, piliin mo nga kung alin sa 613 and pinakadakila!” To his dismay, Jesus had a ready answer: He summarized the whole Mosaic Law, condensed them into 2: You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments. O, ano, Pharisee, hihirit ka pa? WHAT JESUS SAID is, for me, the formula for loving. John the apostle stipulates what this formula consists in. “Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.” To love God, our neighbor, and ourselves we must keep the commandments of God and of the Church, and perform the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. Everyone is obliged to perform the works of mercy, according to his own ability and the need of his neighbor. We learned all this in our catechism classes as children learning the ABCs of our faith. . There are 7 corporal works of mercy. 1. To feed the hungry. 2. To give drink to the thirsty. 3. To clothe the naked. 4. To visit the imprisoned. 5. To shelter the homeless. 6. To visit the sick. 7. To bury the dead. And there are 7 spiritual works of mercy: 1. To admonish the sinner. 2. To instruct the ignorant. 3. To counsel the doubtful. 4. To comfort the sorrowful. 5. To bear wrongs patiently. 6. To forgive all injuries. 7. To pray for the living and the dead. It’s a tall order. Ang bigat! But that’s the formula. Loving is not an easy thing to do. In this light, I hope I can safely and honestly say, “I love you, Lord!”
Posted on: Wed, 22 Oct 2014 03:03:11 +0000
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