Let Your face shine upon Your servant; and teach me Your laws.
Today's Gospel Acclamation puts a prayer on our lips, but it is one that we might have trouble praying sincerely, at least in part.
The first half of the prayer seems easy. We all want God's face to shine upon us. God brings us blessings and love, protection and care. Yet we have to remember something else, too. When the light of God's face shines upon us, that light can reveal all our flaws, all our darkness, all our sins, all the ways we have failed to love. This can be disturbing to say the least and sometimes even frightening.
We must, however, realize that only when we know ourselves as we are, in the fullness of our mess, can we fully repent and open the way for God's mercy and love to heal us and purify us. God shows us what we are to humble us because humility is necessary for us to return to God and embrace His love.
The second half of the prayer might make us hesitate just a little. Our culture tends to turn law into something negative. We may think of law as limiting our freedom and of the moral law in particular as restricting and inhibiting. But this is not at all true. God's law is perfectly suited to our human nature. He created us after all, so He knows exactly what we need, especially in our fallen state. He knows the boundaries that will keep us safe and close to Him, and this is why He gives us His law.
Therefore, we ask God to teach us His laws so that we can learn, at the same time, of His love. He gives us laws because He loves us and wants the very best for us. The moral law is not about constraining us and taking away our freedom but about keeping us safe and making us truly free to embrace truth, beauty, goodness, and our loving God.
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