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Wednesday 3rd Week Lent
The Institute
March 2, 2016
ASSURANCES ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ø
Matthew’s gospel is primarily directed at a readership w/ a
Jewish background
Ø It’s clear that
their Jewish background and traditions were not easy for converts to give up
Ø Both Paul and
Matthew go out of their way to assure them that Christianity isn’t a rejection
of Judaism, but its natural development
Ø
It is everything that Judaism is and more
COMPUTER UPGRADE +++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ø
So in Gospel, J assures listeners, “Don’t imagine I’ve come to abolish Law or Prophets. I have come not 2 abolish,
but 2 complete them”
Ø He’s not come 2
terminate the Law, but 2 bring it to a higher level
Ø In a rough
simile, it’s like upgrading a computer by increasing its memory. It’s still
same computer doing same things, only better and faster
Ø
The vision of Jesus helps us to see the Law in a new light.
PARADIGM SHIFT ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ø
The “New Law” isn’t simply addition of new elements
Ø There is what
we’d call now a ‘paradigm shift’ to a Way which goes beyond laws to the Law of
Love
Ø As a Church,
too, we need to be ready to move forward creatively to new ways of
understanding our faith and living it out that is based on love
Ø While the
traditions of the past are still valid, we mustn’t get bogged down in them the
extent that we do not respond to the clear signs of the times
Ø Tradition can
be understood in two ways: either as a (1) Fundamental belief that has existed
from the very beginning or simply a (2) Way of doing or understanding things
which has been around for a long time
Ø
Both are valid
CONCLUSION ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ø
When will the Church stop changing?
Ø Hopefully
never, for the day we close ourselves to change is the day we die, as Paul
warns us in the 2 Corinthians.
Ø
To quote Cardinal Newman: “To
live is to change; to be perfect is to have changed often”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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