It occurred to me that perhaps a way to describe the Law, and the reason why Our Lord says, “If you love Me, keep My Commandments”, is this: The Law simply tells us how NOT TO HURT GOD.
Every single item of the Law, every single sin could fit into this formula:
If you do ______________, it will hurt Me.
If you don’t love Me, it will hurt Me.
If you don’t go to Mass, it will hurt Me.
If you have sex outside of marriage, it will hurt Me.
If you lie, it will hurt Me.
If you steal, it will hurt Me.
If you don’t forgive your enemies, it will hurt Me.
If you are indifferent to the eternal fate of others’ souls, it will hurt Me.
The Law is simply God telling us the things that we do that HURT HIM. And isn’t that what we are supposed to do with each other? If we have a friend or family member or spouse that is hurting us, aren’t we supposed to tell them? And if we are hurting in some way someone we love – even if inadvertently or through ignorance – shouldn’t we WANT to know so that we can stop hurting them? How then could God, our Tremendous Lover, NOT tell us the things that we do that hurt Him? And how could we possibly, possibly ignore Him?
