Wednesday, Third Week of Lent

Deuteronomy 4:1,5-9/Ps. 147:12-13,15-16,19-20/ Matthew 5:17-19

In the first reading, Moses asks the people a striking question: “What great nation is there that has its gods so near as the Lord our God is to us whenever we call upon him?” Israel believed that God was both transcendent and near mysterious and beyond them, yet attentive whenever they called upon Him.

Their God was not distant or indifferent; He was a God who listened.
For us as Christians, this sense of God’s closeness becomes even deeper.

In Jesus Christ, God has drawn nearer than anyone could ever imagine. God did not remain far away; He took on our flesh, shared our human life, and as the risen Lord remains with us always.

His presence is not vague or abstract. He is personally close to each one of us-present in prayer, in the Eucharist, in His Word, and in the quiet movements of grace within our hearts.

Yet many people today feel isolated, burdened, or spiritually distant. Lent invites us to rediscover that God is nearer to us than we often realize.
Sometimes His nearness is experienced in simple ways.

In the Gospel, Jesus says that He has not come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it. Although He challenged the religious leaders and exposed the shortcomings of certain practices, He did not reject his tradition.

Instead, He purified and completed what was good within it. This reveals something important about the heart of Jesus. He did not look first at what was wrong; He looked for the good that could be brought to fullness.

This is a valuable lesson for our Christian life. It is easy to notice faults—in our families, our Church communities, our workplaces, or even in society.

Sometimes we become discouraged by weaknesses and failures. Yet the attitude of Christ invites us to do something different: to recognize the seeds of goodness that God has already planted and help them grow.

Jesus saw people not only as they were, but as they could become with God’s grace.

During this Lenten season, the Holy Spirit invites us to allow God to refine and complete the good within us. Our faith, our cultural values, our families, and our institutions all contain gifts that can bear greater fruit when touched by grace.

If we remain attentive to God’s presence and open to the Spirit’s guidance, then what is good but incomplete in our lives can slowly be brought to fullness.

And perhaps that is one of the quiet miracles of Lent: God patiently shaping our hearts so that the good He has planted in us may reach its fullness in Christ.