{"id":27291,"date":"2026-07-13T09:24:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T13:24:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=27291"},"modified":"2026-07-13T10:21:44","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T14:21:44","slug":"27291","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=27291","title":{"rendered":"A Joining of Law and Love"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Common Hymnal | The Kingdom Is Yours | JonCarlos Velez, Jamie MacDonald, Dee Wilson\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1VW1a1JyJ04?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Sunday, July 12, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Father Richard Rohr considers how the Beatitudes build on the wisdom of the Ten Commandments:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Beatitudes are <strong><em>paradoxical \u201ccommandments<\/em><\/strong>.\u201d They <strong>don\u2019t tell Christians what to do; they tell them what they will be like if they are living in the kingdom:<\/strong> They will be poor in spirit, pure in heart, merciful and gentle peacemakers; they will thirst for what is right and be persecuted because of it, and they will mourn. Not a very happy prospect! And yet the Beatitudes call discipleship a happy life. Why? Because<strong> when we live in right relationship with God and one another, we are comforted, our hunger is satisfied, we are shown mercy, and we see God; and so, we are called God\u2019s children, and we live under God\u2019s reign!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Beatitudes are as concerned about a new way of relating as the Ten Commandments were in the ancient days of Israel. The commandments spoke of showing honor to God and to one\u2019s parents, of not killing, lying, stealing, cheating, or being jealous. The Beatitudes take nothing away from this revelation, but they do add something new. <strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Instead of asking us to obey rules, they invite us to a lifestyle based on vulnerability, self-emptying, and cooperation.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yet if we ask most Christians what it means to be moral, they think of the Ten Commandments, not the Beatitudes! They think in terms of legalistic morality. But <strong>to follow Jesus is to follow him out of the legality of systems and into living in a much larger truth. It\u2019s to move to a more mature level of faith, where we discover God much more as lifegiver than lawgiver<\/strong>. [1]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The law makes us aware of problems. It gives a certain basic order to society and a framework within which people can live their lives. But what if people just obey the law and nothing more? Is there any law that requires you to make friends? Is there any law that compels you to fall in love? Is there any law that says you have to have agency, accomplish something, or be happy? Is there any law that states people have to care about you when you are suffering? Of course not! <strong>Almost everything that makes life enjoyable and satisfying comes from people going beyond the legal minimum. It\u2019s going beyond the letter of the law that makes life worth living.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The same is true in our spiritual life. The framework of the commandments provides a basic and needed regularity in our spiritual life. <strong>We need such a \u201ccontainer\u201d if we are ever to move beyond commandments and discover blessings.<\/strong> We can\u2019t expect to be blessed with the happiness of living in the reign of God if we never obey God\u2019s laws. Yet even God\u2019s laws are not an end in themselves. <strong>Living within them simply frees us to hear the call of the Spirit to the more radical spiritual life of the Beatitudes<\/strong>. [2]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>===========================<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Mercy Endures Forever<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Monday, July 13, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>Blessed are the merciful: They shall have mercy shown them.<br>\u2014Matthew 5:7<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Father Richard teaches that mercy is the essence of who God is:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mercy is like the mystery of forgiveness. By definition, mercy and forgiveness are unearned, undeserved, and not owed. If it isn\u2019t all those three, it won\u2019t be experienced as mercy. If we think mercy is mandatory, or that it must be earned, we lose the mystery of both mercy and forgiveness. I believe with all my heart that <strong>mercy and forgiveness are the whole gospel.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The experience of forgiveness or mercy is the experience of a magnanimous God who loves out of total gratuitousness. There\u2019s no tit for tat with God, no buying or selling in the temple. We cannot buy or sell God\u2019s love by worthiness or achievement. <strong>Salvation is God\u2019s lovingkindness, a lovingkindness that is \u201cforever.<\/strong>\u201d Read Psalm 136 for an ecstatic description.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>More than a description of something God does now and then, <strong>mercy is who God is.<\/strong> According to Jesus, \u201cMercy is what pleases me, not sacrifice\u201d (Matthew 9:13; 12:7). The word mercy is&nbsp;<em>hesed<\/em>&nbsp;in Hebrew: \u201cthe steadfast, enduring love which is unbreakable.\u201d Sometimes the word is translated as \u201clovingkindness\u201d or \u201ccovenant love.\u201d <strong>God has made a covenant with creation an<\/strong>d <strong>will never break the divine side of the covenant. It\u2019s only broken from our side. <\/strong>God\u2019s love is steadfast. It is written in the divine image within us. <strong>We are the ones who instead clutch at our sins and punish ourselves instead of surrendering to the divine mercy.<\/strong> The refusal to be forgiven is a form of pride. It is saying, \u201cI\u2019m better than mercy. I\u2019m only going to accept it when I\u2019m worthy and can preserve my so-called self-esteem.\u201d<strong> Only the humble person can live in and after mercy. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Clarence Jordan (1912\u20131969), an activist for racial and economic justice, considers the economic outcome of being immersed in God\u2019s mercy:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The word translated \u201cmercy\u201d \u2026 isn\u2019t a cold, condescending kind of mercy such as one in power might extend to his victim in return for gratitude or service. It is warm, compassionate, tender, and never seeks to barter. It is almost exactly the same word that Jesus uses later on in the Sermon in referring to \u201calmsgiving.\u201d\u2026 Jesus rescued that world from the mere act of proudly pitching a coin to a beggar and made it into a whole attitude of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By \u201cthe merciful\u201d he means\u00a0<em><strong>those who have an attitude of such compassion toward all [people] that they want to share gladly all that they have with one another and with the world<\/strong><\/em>\u2026. To them, [people] are no longer beggars to whom one gives a part, but brothers [and sisters] with whom one shares all. This concept of charity, or mercy, <strong>led some of the early Christians to a state of voluntary poverty in which \u201cAll the believers were together and held all things in common\u201d <\/strong>(Acts 2:44). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>===============<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Individual Reflection:<\/strong><br>Where in your life right now are you clutching at law (earning, proving, achieving) instead of surrendering to mercy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Group Discussion \u2014 choose one:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>What would change in how you treat others if you believed mercy was truly unearned and un-owed?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Where do you resist Jesus&#8217; math \u2014 that the kingdom belongs to the poor, the mourning, the persecuted?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Is there a mercy you&#8217;ve been refusing to accept because you don&#8217;t feel worthy of it?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sunday, July 12, 2026 Father Richard Rohr considers how the Beatitudes build on the wisdom of the Ten Commandments: The Beatitudes are paradoxical \u201ccommandments.\u201d They don\u2019t tell Christians what to do; they tell them what they will be like if they are living in the kingdom: They will be poor in spirit, pure in heart, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27291"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27291"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27297,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27291\/revisions\/27297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}