The Law of Our Hearts

A Reflection on the Psalm for Sunday, July 30th, 2023:
Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Psalm 119

R. Lord, how I love your law!

The Lord is my portion; I promise to keep your words. The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces. 

R. Lord, how I love your law!

Let your steadfast love become my comfort according to your promise to your servant. Let your mercy come to me, that I may live; for your law is my delight. 

R. Lord, how I love your law!

Truly I love your commandments more than gold, more than fine gold. Truly I direct my steps by all your precepts; I hate every false way. 

R. Lord, how I love your law!

Your decrees are wonderful; therefore my soul keeps them. The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple. 

R. Lord, how I love your law!

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

I love that the refrain in this psalm ends with an exclamation point: “Lord, how I love your law!” In fact, the psalmist is full of uplifting enthusiasm and excitement for the Lord’s commandments, precepts, and decrees. Silver and gold pale in comparison to the delight of keeping, living, and following God’s (moral) laws. 

I chuckled a bit when thinking about how the refrain would translate into contemporary society: “Nova Scotia government, how we love your laws!”  How different to much of the secular worldview of “the law,” which can be felt as oppressive to intrinsic freedom. I believe that if you asked 10 people to define freedom, eight would describe it as “doing whatever I want.” After all, to many, “laws” suggest restrictiveness and a threat to the ultimate goal of individualism. 

Praying with this psalm reminded me of my favourite scripture, “the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). When becoming a Catholic as an adult, it was this passage where the penny dropped. It was awesome and profound. I heard and understood it in my bones. Only later did I realize that it had been there the whole time, inscribed in my heart, waiting for my surrender by the grace of God and welcomed body, mind, and soul.  
 
There is a parallel to this psalm in Paul’s letter to the Romans when he says, “What the law requires is written in their hearts” (Romans 2:15). God’s moral law is inscribed in every human heart to be cooperated with and embraced, or not. One leads to life, and the other to sin and inner turmoil when choices and actions are led by emotions and desires alone and not by the moral law of a loving God, freely chosen.   

Thank You Lord, for creating me with a heart inscribed with your precepts, commandments and decrees. Your way is the only way to peace and true freedom. 

Lord, how I love Your law!




Patty Viscount

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