Every civilized nation has laws, composed by earlier generations and distilled from the wisdom of the ages, for the greater good of the community and of each individual.

Today's readings focus on the privilege of Israel: Israel believed that her essential laws came directly from God through Moses. Naturally she then delighted in the Law of the Lord, but at the same time tended to fall into the temptation of the privileged, the temptation to compare herself with other nations. Comparison usually, if not always, has a blinding effect. When I compare myself unfavourably with others, the comparison blinds me to the many gifts that I possess simply because of the fact that God chose to create me. Similarly when I compare others unfavourably with myself, the comparison blinds me to the many gifts that they possess.

Similarly, in today's Psalm Israel acknowledges that God "sends forth his word to the earth", but seems not to see the positive thrust of her own doctrine about God as the only Lord of all creation and history. In the light of Christ's teaching we understand that "the earth" includes all nations and in some mysterious way God speaks to the heart of every nation and every individual.