KEEPING PROMISES IS HARD TO DO
Saturday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
My dear encountered couples:
When Moses came down from the mountain with the Ten Commandments and related to the people all the words and ordinances of the Lord, we are told that they all answered with one voice:
“WE WILL DO EVERYTHING THE LORD HAS TOLD US!”
How often have you heard that before? “Yeah, I’ll do it, sure, of course I’ll do it, you can rely on me.” We’ve all said it. But how often and how soon those words are forgotten! It is as if they were never said. The Jews promised Moses they would obey all the commandments of God. We know the rest of that story, don’t we? It is pretty much like our own stories.
We promise and re-promise to live the way of Christ. And we break those promises, we re-break them over and over. Why don’t we just admit to ourselves that we don’t really intend to keep them?
But that’s not true. Like the Jews in the desert we do intend to keep our promises. It is just that we don’t always seem to have what it takes to keep them. Breaking commandments and promises tell us something about ourselves. We are not as solid and strong and self-controlled as we’d like to think we are. When we make promises and take vows, we need help to keep them — God’s help. No matter how many times we break them we must never give up. The Jews of Old Testament times never really gave up - they kept trying and retrying. As a group and as individuals we must do the same. Now all together, let’s say it:
“WE WILL DO EVERYTHING THE LORD HAS TOLD US!”
