Praise the Lord, Jerusalem. -- Psalm 147:12
Mass readings: Deuteronomy 4:1,5-9 / Matthew 5:17-19
Remember parsing? As a child, I delighted in identifying the parts of speech and understanding the way they fit together in a sentence. I could become so absorbed in the joy of parsing, and placing each and every word on the leggy lines of a diagram, I would miss the bell for recess!
In today's Gospel reading, Jesus places a similar value on the Mosaic Law, when He states, ''Until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the Law'' -- the equivalent of ''dotting every i'' and ''crossing every t.'' Jesus' mission was carried out in the framework of that law, at the heart of which, of course, is the command to love -- the kind of love spelled out for us on the cross.
Prayer: Dear Jesus, we thank You for Your great love, exemplified by Your death on the cross.