Just Keep His Commandments Already

14 Jul

Moses said to the people:
“If only you would heed the voice of the Lord, your God,
and keep his commandments and statutes
that are written in this book of the law,
when you return to the Lord, your God,
with all your heart and all your soul.”  (Dt 30:10)

If only.

That is the furtive cry of many a parent, is it not?

“If only my son would listen to me.”  “If only my daughter would follow my example.”  If only, if only, if only.

This is not a new cry.

We hear in today’s first reading the “if only” spoken by Moses thousands of years ago:  “If only you would heed the voice of the Lord…”

We know that the “if onlys” are based on fact.

As we review our own lives, we often say, “If only I listened to my parents, my teachers, my whomever.”  We know that if we had heeded their cautions, their warnings, their directions, we would have made out better.

Commandments, laws, rules — these are all given to us for a purpose.  That purpose is to help us, to instruct us, to guide us.

The sooner we realize that, the sooner our lives will change for the better.

FAITH ACTION:  Make a good examination of conscience.  What commandments are hard for you to keep?  Why do you think so?  What can you do to heed them better?