Flourishing with His Laws on Our Hearts

I think on the phrase, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

In the First Reading, Jeremiah declares, “for they broke my covenant.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34) God’s chosen people had messed it up yet again following their own path, once again finding themselves broken and scattered. It needed to be fixed, of course.

In the old covenant, God would send His prophets (enter Jeremiah) to call His people to be faithful again. They often would listen for a brief time and then fall back into their sinful ways. But God never meant to leave them in a broken place. He wasn’t giving up on them, and His plan for fixing the problem wasn’t a “what” but a “Who.” And only this "Who" could fix what had been broken.

Throughout the Old Testament we can find God’s promises to His people, promises of hope and of love. In today’s reading Jeremiah continues on with this prophecy: “I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they will be my people.” (Jeremiah 31:33)

And here is where you and I are invited to be a part of this story. We are those people, God’s people, the people of the New Covenant. His laws are inscribed upon our hearts.

In coming to Earth, Jesus was the “Who” that fulfilled all the prophecies, incarnating the word and the laws. Bishop Robert Barron, in his homily on this verse, described Jesus as the ‘Law made flesh, which we then consume in the Eucharistic feast.’ As Catholics the law of Christ in an innate part of our identity.

When God instituted this New Covenant with His people, He established through the Church a direct path of love and mercy with each one of us. What was broken was made whole and all of us were invited into deeper intimacy. We are called out of our own brokenness to unite with the New Covenant, to be a people who flourish and find our hope in the Sacrifice of the new covenant.

We are called out of our own brokenness to unite with the New Covenant, to be a people who flourish and find our hope in the Sacrifice of the new covenant.Click to tweet

What a delight to be in the New Covenant! Pray a prayer of thanksgiving for this today.

Sarah Ortiz is a Catholic convert, wife, and mother to four boys. When not folding laundry, she can be found reading, experimenting in the kitchen, or writing at her blog. You can find out more about her here.