Dearest Goddaughter (LTR-88) - God's Rules are NOT Meant to be Broken

Dearest Goddaughter,

I adopt these these reflections on God's law from Regnum Christi Daily Meditation for 6/12/2024:

Through the law and the prophets God prepared his people for salvation. In Christ that salvation is at hand: Jesus, the Word made flesh, will fulfill the law and the prophets and give them their proper interpretation. The law will move from the tablets of stone to the hearts of men, as demonstrated by the Beatitudes. Jesus came especially to fulfill the deep longing in the human heart for happiness, which is ultimately found in eternal life with God. . .

 “Rules are meant to be broken”—according to the first law of the “Teenage Creed.” As we approach adulthood, we may discover external conflicts to our subjective happiness. We call them rules. And as the desire to exercise our own free will grows, we begin to feel the seemingly oppressive weight of these rules—“Do this, don’t do that.” Authority figures can then be perceived to be in direct opposition to our personal fulfillment. We wrongly conclude that rules and happiness are like oil and water. Then we permit patterns of sin to develop despite what our conscience tells us, and we are unwittingly given a glimpse into the way the devil suggests his criteria to us. If we are not careful, we may form deep-seated attitudes that will make us struggle against God and against his criteria—the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes, the cross, and the teachings of the Church.

 “The moral law has its origin in God and always finds its source in him” (Pope Saint John Paul II, The Splendor of Truth, 40). Our true freedom lies not in the rejection but in the acceptance of God’s moral law. God is not a heartless dictator but a Father who loves us and wills our very best. If he sets standards for us, it is because he has our eternal happiness in mind, like a skilled coach who challenges the athlete to reach his full potential.

Source: https://www.regnumchristi.com/en/june-12-2024-cancelling-or-fulfilling-emptiness-or-plenitude/

It is one thing to question Church teachings and wrestle with them. It is arrogant and prideful of us to believe we know better and not be obedient when, as the reflection states, these "rules" conflict with our "subjective happiness." As our parents' rules were in place to guide us and protect us as we were growing up in the comfort and peace of our family home, the law of God is there to preserve our souls from the contagion of sin and the snares of the devil. Thus, we must be careful against forming "deep-seated attitudes" against God and His rules.

Only God gives us true freedom when we are obedient to His law while the Evil One only seek to bind us to our sins. That is no freedom at all but a death sentence that separates us from the love of God. It is as we hear in today's Gospel: "Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven."

Love,

Bỏ Phúc

P.S. These are the readings for the day: 1 Kgs 18:20-39 and Mt 5:17-19 (see below).

. . .

Jesus said to his disciples:

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.

I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.

Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away,

not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter

will pass from the law,

until all things have taken place.

Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments

and teaches others to do so

will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven.

But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments

will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven."