The Spirit scrutinizes everything

This weekend we will hear Jesus continue to teach us in the Sermon on the Mount. In particular, this week Jesus tells us "I have come not to abolish but to fulfill." He then proceeds to take different precepts of the Law and lay out what the real implications of them are. For example: the law against murdering isn't just about not killing your neighbor, but about much more than that. Jesus says, "whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment." And later, when speaking about the laws against adultery, he says, "everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

In doing this, Jesus is not seeking to simply lay out an impossible way of life for us to live. Rather, he is showing us that the Law is meant to be about changing our hearts! Sure, it doesn't seem all that hard to us to not kill anyone; having a law forbidding it seems somewhat unnecessary. However, what slowly leads people to get to the point of murder, like anger and envy, are also not of God. So fight against anger too! That way the Law is unnecessary, because it is written in our hearts.

And in the second reading St. Paul says, "For the Spirit scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God." What does this mean? That even our internal thoughts are known to the Lord. We may not kill someone on the outside; we may not commit adultery on the outside. But if our inside is filled with sinful thoughts and desires that cause us to think ill of one another, well even that God knows.

So, let us pray this week that we may indeed be transformed from the inside out! May the Spirit, who scrutinizes our hearts, pour grace into them as well. May our hearts be so full of that grace that the Law is unnecessary, because the lives we live are based solely on loving God and loving our neighbor. And when that happens, we truly know that our hearts are beating in rhythm with the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Want to prepare your heart and mind for Mass this weekend? Click here to find the readings this Sunday's Mass.