the spirit of the law expands the law - 1st week lent friday 2019

Jesus teaches us to follow not the letter of the law but the spirit.  That is why Jesus expands the commandment thou shall not kill to include anger, or insulting the other by calling him raca, or worse by calling him a fool which in the Hebrew language means ining tawo nagbuang.  

However, the expansion is not limited to the bad things one does to the other, but now it also includes the good I need to do.  Jesus said, Go first and be reconciled with your brother; settle with your opponent quickly; these are positive expansions of the law. And this is how we live the spirit of the law.

I may not have dishonored my father and mother, but have I taken good care of them in their old age, have I visited them, and have tended to their needs?

I may not have missed a Sunday mass but have I prayed to God, have I acknowledged his benevolence to me, do I see God in the faces of persons in need, have I made Sunday holy by doing good to others?

Let us make this a habit starting this lent.  In Jesus we observe not just the letter of the law but especially its spirit expanding it to include its positive aspects.  As I have said two Sundays quoting St. Marie Eugenie, Love never says I have done enough, ang nagahigugma wala nagasiling, tuman na.