Meditation on the Law of the Lord

Homily for Wednesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time

The Book of Psalms consists of one hundred and fifty poems or hymns that, not unlike our modern hymnals, provided the children of Israel with a collection of liturgical prayers. The entire book is actually a compendium of five different psalters that have been gathered together to provide a comprehensive Temple prayerbook. The first psalm provides us with an introduction to the entire collection. The very first verses tell us that the one who delights in the law of the Lord and meditates upon it day and night is blessed. This opening statement gives us the purpose and motivation behind collecting these hymns together. It was meant as an ideal way to enter into meditations on the covenant relationship that exists between God and the children of Israel. Catholics Scripture scholars are fond of saying that the church has poured the waters of baptism over this particular book from the Hebrew Scriptures and made it into the ideal way for us to enter into meditations upon our relationship or new covenant in Jesus Christ.

Today this Psalm is used as a response to our reading from the Letter to the Galatians and to a passage from chapter eleven of St. Luke’s Gospel. Both of these readings are about the commandments and precepts that have been handed down to us through the Scriptures. In the first reading, St. Paul reminds us that we are no longer under the obligations of the law but are rather required to live in the spirit, remembering that the spirit is anything that draws us toward God while the flesh is anything that draws us away from God. In the Gospel, Jesus criticizes the Pharisees and the scribes were paying more attention to the demands of the law instead of paying attention to the needs of the people.

As we celebrate the Eucharist today, we seek to drink from the fountain of salvation like trees that are planted near running water so that we can flourish and bear good fruit as we live out our vocation as Christian men and women.