Good morning. In today’s first reading from the Book of Deuteronomy, the words of Moses echo in eternity and speak to our hearts here and now, saying: “. . .the LORD, your God, ask of you. . . to fear the LORD, your God. . . The “beginning of wisdom is fear of the LORD” (Proverbs 9:10) and so what Moses was telling the Israelites then (and us now) is that it would be wise for us to follow the ways of God and to keep his commandments and statutes, which God has written on our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33).
Moses continued, saying: “Think! . . and be no longer stiff-necked. For the LORD, your God, is the God of gods, the LORD of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome. . .” We follow the ways of God and keep his commandments for our own good and from our desire to love and serve God with all our heart and all our soul. In other words, we follow God not because we fear being punished by God but we do so out of reverence and honor for our Creator, who desires to be in a relationship with us, His beloved sons and daughters, because He is our God and we are his people (Jeremiah 31:33).
Following God’s commandments and statues, in particular His commandment to love Him and love our neighbor, is not an option for us because it is the path to salvation. However, out of His love for us, God gives us the freewill to follow His ways or not. Therefore, this is for us an exercise in the spiritual life. First, it is through prayer that we grow in our relationship with God, which in turns gives us the grace to follow God’s commandments and statutes. Second, it is an exercise in the spiritual life because it helps us understand ourselves better and where we are in our relationship with God, especially when we find it challenging to follow His ways. In other words, it is an exercise in looking at ourselves and our relationship with God, to look at ourselves in the mirror and reflect on what we see gazing back at us.
Providentially, today is also the memorial of Saint Clare of Assisi, virgin, and, in her letter to Saint Agnes of Prague, she wrote about looking in the mirror and meditating on what we see. Saint Clare of Assisi wrote: “ [Jesus] is the splendor of eternal glory, the brightness of eternal light, and the mirror without cloud. . . [and here is the hinge. . . Saint Clare tells us to] look into that mirror daily and study well your reflection, that you may adorn yourself, mind and body, with an enveloping garment of every virtue. . . Look more deeply into the mirror and meditate on [Jesus’s] humility, or simply on his poverty. Behold the many labors and sufferings he endured to redeem the human race. Then, in the depths of this very mirror, ponder his unspeakable love which caused him to suffer on the wood of the cross and to endure the most shameful kind of death.”
My sisters and brothers in Christ, when we look in the mirror and, as Saint Clare of Assisi tells us, ponder Jesus’ “unspeakable love which caused him to suffer on. . . the cross and to endure the most shameful kind of death” for our salvation, then, perhaps, we can find the courage to follow the ways of God and to keep his commandments and statutes in our life out of love for He who loves us first - our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
We are reminded of Jesus’ sacrificial love for us during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass when we respond, saying: “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.” And so, when we receive our Lord in the Eucharist, at Holy Communion, let us go forth from Mass and reflect Jesus in our lives, by following His ways and keeping his commandments and statutes, so that when we look at ourselves in the mirror, perhaps we can see the reflection of Christ gazing lovingly back at us.
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