There’s a misconception of Christianity that’s very common in our time, and we've all heard it.  It goes something like this: “All those rules and regulations from the Old Testament, they don’t mean a thing.  In fact, all these rules and regulations that the Church puts on people, they don’t mean a thing either.  Jesus brings a message of love.  We get to love now, we don’t have to worry about all these laws.  Like it says in the Gospel according to John Lennon, All you need is love.”  It’s true that God is love and he calls us to a deep and profound love for our neighbor and for him.  But what does that mean?  If God truly loves us and wants us to be free, why would he bind us to all these codes of conduct that we read in the Scriptures?  Why would the Church seem to be so demanding about the moral life, about what’s right and wrong in various kinds of human behavior.  We hear why, from the mouth of Christ himself today: The Old Law, especially the Ten Commandments and everything they imply, still have value; they are still sure and certain guidelines for living a good and happy life.  

This is a critically important message for our own day.  Our culture tells us, Freedom is to do whatever you want, no matter what, whenever you want, wherever you want, with whomever you want, period. You’re more free, the more you give in to your desires and urges, says our culture.  And if you dare to actually control yourself, to try to control your desires and not have them control you, then you must be repressed or something.  The Catholic understanding of freedom is very different, much more ancient, and much more profound.  You’re free when you make choices in line with the person you are created to be, when you do things that make you a better person, that draw you closer to God, make you able to love more meaningfully.  The more we behave in ways that are in line with the intentions of our Creator, the freer we will be, the happier we will be, and the more fulfilled we will be.  And so God tells us certain things to avoid which will harm us, and he directs us towards certain things that will strengthen us and make us better and happier.  He gives us a rulebook, through the Ten Commandments, through the teachings of Christ, and through the moral teachings of the Church: not to weigh us down under a blizzard of obligations, but to free us with true freedom: to show us the kinds of choices that will make us truly free.  This doesn’t turn us into some kind of mechanical robots without any individuality.  The incredible diversity you can see throughout the Church and the world, even just the diversity of experiences present in this room right now, shows what a broad array of choices we can make within the true freedom that God gives us.  As you know, we humans have an amazing ability to make excuses for our bad behavior, to justify why the rules don’t really apply to us.  But the clarity of the commandments, the teachings of the Church, keep us on track.  That’s why Sirach says in our first reading, “If you choose, you can keep the commandments and they will save you.”  We develop habits of good behavior by following the commandments, by trying to correct those bad habits we may have developed, and by taking advantage of all the assistance that God and the Church provide, especially in the sacraments.  

Christ teaches us something else today that’s very profound as well.  The morality Christ calls us to live, all those teachings of the Church that seem so foreign to the society we live in (you know the ones I mean)…they’re not just rules of conduct.  God doesn’t just want to convert our behavior.  He wants to convert our hearts.  “Thou shalt not kill” doesn’t mean “Just: thou shalt not kill.”  It means “Thou shalt not have death in your heart at all.”   “Thou shalt not bear false witness” doesn’t mean just that we don’t tell lies.  It means that we live authentic lives and are always honest with ourselves and others.  In other words, we don’t just keep the commandments because God tells us to, because we’re afraid of him, afraid that he might send us to hell.  We keep the commandments because that’s who we are.  The more we follow the guidelines God gives us, the better habits we develop, the more it comes naturally to us.  Without God, of course, this would be impossible.  Our world is too full of hazards, and our temptations can be too powerful.  But if we rely on Christ and on our relationship with him, if we remain very close to him in prayer and in the sacraments, we can truly enter into this transformation of our souls that God desires for us.  And that gives us peace and true joy.  God wants to give us everything.  He wants to immerse us in his love, if we will just let him.  If we do, we will become more and more like Christ, our example and our guide.  Through Christ we have our way to the Father.  For all the Father has is his, and all he has is ours.