Every family, company, country, and even religious community has rules. Life would be chaotic without rules. Together, we come up with a set of guidelines that everyone must abide by if they want to get along. Sometimes we become stubborn and think ridiculously about the reasons for following all these rules or commandments that seem to burden us. We tend to forget that the objective of all these laws is for us to understand and consequently practice the real meaning of “love”.
The Gospel today tells us that Jesus lived in the Jewish culture with many rules too. But instead of following all of those laws, He followed God’s law. He did not abolish the law, but he introduced a completely new way of thinking.
The Scribes and the Pharisees kept the Law and the Commandments very carefully. It was their own “perfection” they were mainly concerned about. But Jesus would say that, though they observed the external requirements of the Law, they did not have the spirit, which is the foundation of the Law: to love God and to love one’s neighbor as oneself. This resonates with what our Father founder, Blessed Francisco Palau, said in one of his letters: “Always bear
in mind that perfection consists in the fulfillment of the precepts of love: love of God and neighbor” (Lt. 6, 6). Jesus helps us to understand that, to be one of his disciples, the foundation of our lives must go deeper—that in every action we take or decide to take, we must apply love because of its paramount importance. Jesus wants listening hearts, courageous hearts, generous hearts, and discerning hearts for our neighbors.  Jesus recommends that our hands become agents of compassion, healing and comfort and that our eyes learn to see the truth, goodness and beauty around us. To keep the law without love is like having a body without a soul. We cannot separate our relationship with God from our relationship with people. If we cannot find God in our brothers and sisters, we cannot say that we really love God.
Are we really living according to the law of Christ?