29 August 2021
Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
A human being must have neither too many nor too few obligations. Having too many obligations leads to fatigue, distraction, fragmentation and collapse. On the other hand, having too few obligations leads to self-absorption, aimlessness and sterility. Therefore, wisdom is needed to pick the right obligations in the right circumstances, since some obligations are good and some are bad. And fortitude is needed to hold fast to a good obligation when it becomes difficult.
The greatest obligation of all is the obligation to God, himself. That is why Moses was so emphatic in his presentation of the Jewish law in Deuteronomy chapter 4. He insisted that the people listen to God’s commandments and observe them. Thus would they maintain their greatest and most important obligation, not because God needs human obedience in any way, but because his obligations elicit what is best in us.
The Jewish system of laws and obligations has been not been abrogated but fulfilled by the teaching of Jesus Christ. Having left this world, Christ sent his Holy Spirit to inspire and to guide the Church he founded, but the Holy Spirit is not a spirit of license. On the contrary, the Holy Spirit obligates us ever more firmly and deeply to the teachings of Christ and his Church.
Ignatian spirituality can never be ambivalent to the laws revealed to us in sacred scripture and tradition. On the contrary, our obligation to them is our path to spiritual life.