In the First Reading this Sunday, we read about the Ten Commandments. We all know what they are, and most would say that they keep them. In fact, many have told me that they don’t bother going to Confession because they haven’t broken any of the commandments.
I’d like to tell you a story that I once heard. Once there was a very sincere man who wished to live a holy life. So he went to his priest for advice. The priest was very pleased to see him, then asked the man, “How are you doing so far? How holy do you think you are now?”
“Quite well, I think,” the man answered.
“When you say well, what do you mean?” the priest asked.
“Well, I haven’t broken any of the commandments,” the man replied. “I haven’t taken the Lord’s name in vain. I haven’t missed any Sunday Mass. I haven’t dishonoured my father or mother. I haven’t killed anyone. I haven’t been unfaithful to my wife. I haven’t stolen from anybody. I haven’t borne false witness against anyone. And I haven’t coveted my neighbour’s wife or goods.
“I see,” said the priest. “So you haven’t broken any of the commandments.”
“That’s right,” the man replied with pride.
“But have you kept the commandments?”
“What do you mean?” said the man.
“I mean,” said the priest. “Have you honoured God’s holy name? Have you kept holy the Sabbath day? Have you loved and honoured your parents? Have you sought to preserve and defend life? When last did you tell your wife that you loved her? Have you shared your goods with the poor? Have you defended the good name of anyone? When last did you put yourself out to help a neighbour?”
The man was completely taken aback. But to his credit he went away and reflected on what the priest had said. He realised that up to this point he had been merely intent on avoiding wrongdoing. It’s surprising how many people think this is the highest criterion of virtue. But the priest offered him a new vision of holiness. This consisted not merely in avoiding evil, but in doing good. Up to now, he had a negative concept of goodness. Now the priest was offering him a positive concept of goodness. He had given him a new and better compass to guide him, a new and more challenging path to follow.
We must be careful not to make the same mistake that the man made. We must not approach the commandments in a negative way because this leads to minimalism – doing the bare minimum. We must approach them in a positive way.
For Jesus, keeping the commandments was the bare minimum. He brought in a new and more exacting law – the law of love. Far from contradicting or abolishing the old law, the new law goes beyond it, and so brings it to perfection.
He said all of God’s laws could be reduced to two: love of God and love of neighbour. These two, properly understood, include all the others. In a sense, then, there is only one law – the law of love. And there is only one sin, and that is not to love. Our obedience of the Ten Commandments must be motivated not by fear but by love. We don’t keep the commandments so that God will love us; we keep the commandments because God loves us.
