egfbenya.com

December 13, 2016

LAW

Filed under: Uncategorized — Edward Benya @ 2:10 pm

UNISINOS – RESIDÊNCIA CONCEIÇÃO

 

Residência Conceição                                              29 November, 2016                 XLVI:3

UNISINOS

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93.001-970 São Leopoldo, RS                                  e-mail: [email protected]

BRAZIL                                                                     http://www.egfbenya.com

 

 

Dear Friends, Family, Colleagues, Collaborators and Benefactors:

 

LAW is a term that implies authority and substance of truth. Mathematical laws may well be invariable. Physical and chemical laws are solid. Biological laws are dynamic while Social laws can be flexible. Even Political laws can have a guiding function.

 

“The Law of God” however is a basic term; foreboding in its suggestion, infinite in its scope and thoroughly useful in its application. Originally given as 10 commandments, Jesus Christ reduced that Law to two; Love of God and love of neighbor. These are clear enough in their decrees yet challenging in their application because they have a vibrancy that functions ONLY by the action of the Spirit of God, The Holy Spirit. Without that Spirit the Law reduces to “foreboding suggestion” which arouses in many (if not most) of us…fear; fear of error, fear of retribution. Since the demands of the world operate without mercy, those fears of error and retribution are reinforced thus strengthening the foreboding suggestion of the Law of God.

 

However with even minimal courage on our part, the Spirit of God allows us to expand, proceeding beyond fear, perceiving the infinite in personal experience of Almighty God. Thus begins the unique Witness, the Testimony of each saint, mysterious in its fullness yet profoundly simple in its depth. Class, intelligence, race, origin or status present no barriers. The laborer, scholar, manager, soldier, constable, follower or leader all have equal access to that Spirit. The Law of God becomes a guide more than a threat as that Spirit gently informs. Virtue is defined and develops. The sinner must still face temptation and at times may even fall. However Virtue dominates as we learn to recover in constant Hope.

 

The Savior himself, Jesus Christ made solid use of that Law. His personal rigor on HIMSELF was brutal, FAR from the MERCY He shows us in the sequence of falls and recoveries that mark our navigation of this life. Prayer, Fast and Abstinence marked and informed the Command He had of the apostles and disciples He had called to follow him. We tend to forget that personal rigor in our attempts to “follow Him”. He did NOT exempt Himself from the Law but “born under the law” followed it with The Spirit that He graciously offers us. Nor does He however expect that same rigor of us, but a sacramental, merciful rigor, firm and vibrant in its application as we trod this life.

 

We celebrate His conception and birth at this Advent-Christmas season. I pray that your personal celebration be mercifully rigorous in Him as I wish you a:

BLESSED Hanukkah-Yuletide-CHRISTMAS season and HAPPY NEW YEAR of 2017!

Gratefully in Christ

 

Ed Benya, S.J.

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