Thursday, February 3, 2022
The Law of Being
This brief prophecy was written just as the Jewish people were about to return to Jerusalem from their Babylonian exile. It gives us a view of life among these people at a time full of intense anticipation and great promise; yet Malachi warns of potential problems. “It is likely that the author’s trenchant criticism of abuses and religious indifference in the community prepared the way for . . . necessary reforms. The chosen people had made a sorry return for God’s love. The priests, who should have been leaders, had dishonored God by their blemished sacrifices . . . The author then turns from priests to people, denouncing their marriages with pagans and their callous repudiation of Israelite wives”. (Senior 1170)
I once heard a lecture about this prophecy in which this axiom was stated: A friend is one who wishes us better rather than wishing us well. The prophet understands the importance of learning from the obstacles in life and he likens our earthly existence to a smith’s crucible in which the concentrated heat of living allows impurities to rise up and fall away . . . leaving the true metal shining and beautiful.
Our very nature requires us to be interested in others. When there is something beautiful within us, we desire to communicate it to others. When we see others who are worse off than we are, we desire to help them with something of ours. This need is so original, so natural, that it is within us before we are conscious of it. We call is the law of existence. We do charitable work to satisfy this need. We become ourselves to the extent that we live this need and this requirement. Msgr. Luigi Giussani – MAGNIFICAT Meditation July 9, 2009
Msgr. Giussani sees people differently from the Malachi perspective. He sees the potential that God sees in us, the potential that Christ came to reveal to and in each of us. He continues . . .
We do charitable work so that we may learn to fulfill the task of becoming ourselves. But it is Christ who enabled us to understand the ultimate reason for this, revealing the ultimate law of being and of life: charity.
Malachi speaks to people who have abandoned the women of their tribes to intermarry with non-believers, they have even abandoned their covenant agreement with God. Reforms ensue, measures are taken, albeit harsh ones, to rectify wrongs. It is a brutal story.
Christ, in giving his total self over to the creator, works to bring us to our full potential in himself, through himself . . . so that we might be one with him. This too, is the Law of Being . . . The New Law of Love.
Senior, Donald, ed. THE CATHOLIC STUDY BIBLE. New York, Oxford University Press, 1990.1170. Print.
Cameron, Peter John. “Meditation of the Day.” MAGNIFICAT. 9.7 (2009). Print.
Adapted from a Favorite written on July 9, 2009.
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Image from: http://www.riseearth.com/2011/07/forgiveness-and-law-of-love.html
The Noontimes 