in my yearning for your commands.
How sweet to my taste is your promise!" Ps. 119: 131, 103
11/21/2014: Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The Responsorial Psalm for today juxtaposes praise for God's commands with the repeating line that His promise is sweet to taste. It is an interesting interplay between the two because so often we see God's word and commands as an arbitrary list of rules. Do good or else you get punished! But the truth is that God's commands are a covenant. Christopher West often points out in his talks about marriage and the Theology of the Body that people often talk about marriage as 'dating (or living together), with a contract'. He then goes on to say that marriage is not a contract, but a covenant and the difference between a contract and a covenant is that a contract is all about what you GET OUT of it and a covenant is all about what you PUT INTO it.
God's word has always been given in the sense of a covenant where He is our God and we are His people. His commands have been put forth as an example of what we put into our relationship with Him to become closer to Him. What God promises to put into the relationship is peace, comfort, strength (when needed) and, in His covenant sealed with Jesus' blood, mercy and everlasting life.
So of course I am yearning for His commands. I want to know what I need to put into my relationship with God to grow ever closer to Him. The opportunity to put my all into that covenant is what makes His word more precious than any treasure.
"Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."
-John 6:68
God Bless,
P.D.O.
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