If we do certain things repeatedly, we get into a routine. And with some things, that routine can be a good thing. For example, you got into a routine of praying each morning and evening, you got into a routine of cleaning your house or doing laundry once a week on the same day, or into a routine to exercise one hour per day, or to call your parents always on the same day. However, that same routine can be a little dangerous when it comes to spiritual practices. On one side, as I mentioned earlier, it is good to have a routine of praying each day and going to Mass each Sunday. Yet because of repeating it very frequently, we may lose the true meaning of prayer or of the Eucharist. I am sure you know what I am trying to say -- it is like saying a rosary each day, a wonderful practice, but because you repeat the same words of prayer, you may no longer think or pay attention what are you saying. Your mind may wander somewhere else while at the same time your lips recite the words. That happens even to me and other priest while we celebrate Mass every day. There is a risk of getting into a simple routine and losing that deeper meaning of the Eucharist. “Jesus said to his disciples: Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” Jesus is trying to tell His listeners that he didn’t come to change the law but to bring a new light of understanding to it. Only because the Jews were repeating the same religious practices out of a routine did they lose a true meaning of the Law and God’s commandments. They forgot what the reason was for those practices. That’s why Jesus tells them that He is not bringing a new law, but fulfilling and explaining the one we already have. We, too, we need to stop for a moment and find a true meaning in our religious practices.
Comments