Q. 44. What does the preface to the Ten Commandments teach us?
A. The preface to the Ten Commandments teaches us that because God is the Lord, and our God and Redeemer, therefore we are bound to keep all his commandments.
When I think of your ways,
I turn my feet to your decrees;
I hurry and do not delay to keep your commandments.
Though the cords of the wicked ensnare me,
I do not forget your law.
At midnight I rise to praise you,
because of your righteous ordinances.
I am a companion of all who fear you,
of those who keep your precepts.
The earth, O LORD, is full of your steadfast love;
teach me your statutes. (Psalm 119:59-64)
The truth is, of course, that the curtness of the Ten Commandments is an evidence, not of the gloom and narrowness of a religion, but, on the contrary, of its liberality and humanity. It is shorter to state the things forbidden than the things permitted: precisely because most things are permitted, and only a few things are forbidden. - Gilbert Keith G. K. Chesterton
NASA had high hopes for their Mars orbiter - it would make possible some exciting new research into the Red Planet. They were stunned when suddenly, without warning, they lost the Mars orbiter in deep space. After the initial shock, NASA tried to determine what went wrong. The answer was almost as alarming as losing the orbiter itself. The fatal malfunction was the result of a tragic error in calculations - bad math doomed the Mars craft. One set of engineers had worked with English measurements - while another set of engineers did their calculations by the metric system! ...
A costly failure was the result of measuring by two different standards ... . You can't keep vacillating; commuting back and forth between what the world around you says is right and what your Lord says is right. You can't just go God's way when it's convenient and doesn't cost you much. In God's words, you have to "choose this day whom you will serve." When you do, life is a whole lot less confusing. - Ron Hutchcraft, "The measurement mess," Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, December 1999.
Bells are meant to remind us that God alone is good, that we belong to Him, that we are not living for this world.
They break in upon our cares in order to remind us that all things pass away and that our preoccupations are not important.
They speak to us of our freedom, which responsibilities and transient cares make us forget.
They are the voice of our alliance with the God of heaven.
They tell us that we are His true temple. They call us to peace with Him within ourselves.
The Gospel of Mary and Martha is read at the end of the Blessing of a Church Bell in order to remind us of all these things.
The bells say: business does not matter. Rest in God and rejoice, for this world is only the figure and the promise of a world to come, and only those who are detached from transient things can possess the substance of an eternal promise.
The bells say: we have spoken for centuries from the towers of great Churches. We have spoken to the saints, your fathers, in their land. We called them, as we call you, to sanctity. What is the word with which we called them?
We did not merely say, “Be good, come to Church.” We did not merely say “Keep the commandments” but above all, “Christ is risen, Christ is risen!” And we said, “Come with us, God is good, salvation is not hard, His love has made it easy!” And this, our message, has always been for everyone, for those who came and for those who did not come, for our song is as perfect as the Father in heaven is perfect and we pour our charity out upon all. - from Thoughts In Solitude by Thomas Merton
Today’s Lectionary Readings
Morning Psalm: 68
Evening Psalm: 142
Jeremiah 24:1-10
Romans 9:19-33
John 9:1-17
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