God's directives and joy are connected

September 28, 2003 -- 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

	Bishop Robert Morneau
	Questions for reflection: 1. What brings joy to your heart? 2. What precepts of the Lord do you find hard to keep? 3. How does the Spirit work in your life?

Every Sunday we have the three major readings from Scripture plus a responsorial psalm. Sometimes the refrain from the responsorial psalm gives a focus around which the three readings "hang" together. This Sunday may well be one of them. The refrain: "The precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart."

The precepts of God, those commandments and directives that reveal God's plan, are of the utmost importance. This is true especially in an age in which there is so much confusion about right and wrong, good and evil. Anything goes, according to conventional wisdom. But God demands that we base our lives on the cornerstone of truth.

One precept from the Gospel: do not prevent people from doing good simply because they are not one of us, that is, a disciple. God's Spirit blows where it will. Moses knew this when two men, not of his company, Eldad and Medad, were exercising the prophetic ministry with power and great effect. Moses was aware that God could work through whatever instrument he desired. We see in the second reading from James an implicit precept that we share what we have with others. Piled up wealth will do us no good. The poor and the oppressed have a right to our attention and concern. And in the Gospel there is the precept of inflicting no harm on others, but rather that we do good to and for them. Jesus reprimands all those who harm the innocent; Jesus praises all those who reach out to others in their need.

"The precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart."

From whence come joy? One author, Abbot Marmion, maintains that the knowledge that we possess something that is good causes joy. Moses experienced joy, not jealousy, as God's Spirit worked through various individuals. For James, joy resides in paying just wages and refusing to rely on luxury and pleasure as the ends of life. And what joy is experienced in the Gospel when demons are driven out and people are set free. Who does the driving is a secondary question; that demons are expelled is of the essence.

"The precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart."

There is a connection between keeping God's commandments and joy. And the connector is the heart. Breaking the commandments - be it lying, murder, stealing - contracts the heart, making it narrow and mean. Keeping God's precepts causes joy and the expansion of the heart, offering new horizon and great freedom. The texture of our hearts is dependent on our moral life and the cooperation with grace. And, as the Little Prince reminds us, what is essential is invisible to the eye for it is only with the heart that one sees rightly.

Psalm 19 itself, out of which the refrain "The precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart" arises, is a moving prayer: "The law of the Lord is perfect; refreshing the soul; the decree of the Lord is trustworthy, giving wisdom to the simple. / The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever; the ordinances of the Lord are true, all of them just. / Though your servant is careful of them, very diligent in keeping them, yet who can detect failings? Cleanse me from my unknown faults. / From wanton sin especially, restrain your servant; let it not rule over me. Then I shall be blameless and innocent of serious sin."

(Bp. Morneau is the auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Green Bay.)