Tuesday in the Twenty-Second Week of Ordinary Time at Mississippi Abbey

Jesus teaches as one having authority. How does He do that and how do we imitate that in teaching our new members? Jesus does this by teaching with integrity.

Integrity is a quality of those who behave as they believe because of what they most care about. Michael Casey cites these marks of integrity:

First, there is harmony and collaboration between one’s insides and outsides.

Second, when one is clear about what she cares about most, her heart is undivided. Third, there is constancy in the practice of goodness.

Finally, integrity allows the conduct of her life to be under the control of her commitments and not sub-conscious conflicts or passing events.

To have this consistency between belief and behavior, Jesus knows they must have a “code that they can live by” and a community that lives that code. But the Jewish community already had that. So, He added to that the power to live by that code in that community; the power of the Holy Spirit.

There is a Holy Spirit…and it matters!