We just heard Jesus addressing God’s law, saying that he did not come to abolish the law of God, but rather, that he came to fulfill God’s law and to uphold the law. I think of how so many people in society don’t want to recognize that there are laws that come from God. So many want to make up their own laws and own rules. They think that the laws and traditions that we have been observing don’t make sense any more, and that includes God’s law.
Even for those of us who want to follow God’s law, we know that it is not easy. It one thing hearing that we need to uphold God’s laws, but it is another thing to live out God’s law in our lives. As a priest, it is my duty to uphold God’s laws and to apply them in the way I live out my priesthood and minister to God’s people. But applying God’s law in a pastoral way to real-life situations is a very daunting challenge. It is often after much prayer and investigation and deep reflection that I come up with a decision in how to apply God’s law in a particular situation. Sometimes I see so much unfairness and injustice that I just don’t want to deal with it any more. I just want to run away. There is a tension in all of this. And I wish I knew how to better balance that tension.
In hearing this Gospel, I thought of St Columba, the saint of the day from the 6th century, of how he incorporated God’s law and God’s will in his own life. Columba was born into a royal Irish family. He entered life at a monastery in Ireland as a boy. He founded several important monasteries in Ireland. Legend has it that he was sent away from Ireland due to a family feud. From descriptions, it sounds like this family feud descended into an all out war amongst the clans in Ireland. Columba was forced leave his country; he and twelve other monks were sent to sea in an open boat without any plan and without any destination in mind. They landed on the island of Iona, off the western coast of Scotland. The monastery he founded in Iona became very famous throughout all of Europe. It still exists today as a site of pilgrimage. Some of the poems and hymns that he wrote still exist today. Columba is considered one of the founding Fathers of Catholicism in Scotland and northern England and is revered as such today. We unite our prayers today with the prayers of St Columba.
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