Yesterday, I drove my mom from Minneapolis down to Chicago, and this evening I sat on a porch in the cool fall air with my mother and father and sister, eating and laughing. There is a gentleness to such days; they can't be forced.
Yesterday's article in the Star Tribune lead to a lot of wonderful messages, from some people I knew and many I didn't (but now I do). One asked why I wrote it, and the truth is this: On Thursday afternoon, I heard Dale Carpenter of the University of Minnesota speak very eloquently on the issue at St. Thomas, and then on Friday morning, working on something else, I found myself reading the passages in Matthew, Mark, and Luke where Jesus announces the Two Great Commandments.
To me, that moment in which Jesus answers the lawyer's question is freighted with great meaning. It marks the shift in our faith from the primacy of rules to the primacy of principles-- after all, they ask Jesus what the greatest commandment (or rule) is, and he answers with two principles (love God, and love your neighbor).
Principles are harder than rules, because they require such active engagement on our part. They tell us how we should think about something in deciding on an action, not what to do, and that is hard work.
Hard work, though, is a blessing, as I was reminded again today, even amidst the gentleness of fall.
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