Monday 4 April 2011

Jesus of Nazareth - The New Commandment



As mentioned yesterday, today is the first of a new series of posts taken from the Pope's second book on Jesus of Nazareth (replacing the Imitation posts). He is very concise in the way he touches on historical and critical perspectives of the Gospels and their interpretation, while at the same time presenting to us the spirit of the texts, so that ultimately we can come closer to Jesus. Here is a passage from his reflection on the Old Commandments and the meaning of the New Commandment of Christ at the Last Supper (to love one another):


...Who could possibly claim to have risen above the "average" way of the 10 Commandments, to have left them behind as self-evident, so to speak, and now to walk along the exalted paths of the "new law"? No, the newness of the new commandment cannot consist in the highest moral attainment. Here too, the essential point is not the call to supreme achievement, but the new foundation of being that is given to us. The newness can come only from the gift of being-with and being-in Christ. 

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