And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.”

  - Luke 19.8

He who steals someone else’s property by any means shall restore four times as much to him whom he has injured.

   - The Penitential of Cummean, Irish, 7th century

Christianity exerted a powerful civilizing influence on the wild Celtic tribes of Ireland and Scotland. Only after those lands converted to faith did cities emerge and laws begin to be written to bring order and security to society. The influence behind the preparation of those laws was Christian faith, and the source from which those laws came was the spiritual discipline of penance, as prescribed in the various penitential handbooks in wide use during these years. 

For Celtic Christians penance was a tool for restoring righteousness and justice to relationships and communities. It frequently drew from the Law of God, as in our example above (cf. Ex. 22.1). So effective were the priests and abbots of Celtic Ireland in leading others out of sinful behaviors into more civilized ways of living that they were welcomed in the courts of kings and other rulers to aid in the development of laws to govern the emerging cities and nation. Having proved the transforming power of God’s Law in their own restricted communities, they were invited to participate in the establishment of just forms of government for the larger society.

Here is a lesson we need to re-learn. When the Church begins to embody the teaching of God’s Law – unto holiness, righteousness, and goodness (Rom. 7.12) – we will find others more willing to listen to our recommendations concerning how the larger social order ought to be organized. When our salvation begins, like that of Zacchaeus, to issue in eager obedience to the Law of love, then people will say, as Jesus did, that truly the salvation of God is at work among us. How civilizing an influence is the Law of God in your life?

This is a good time to incorporate reading and meditation in God’s Law into your regimen of spiritual disciplines. The Law of God forms the soul in the way of love for God and neighbors. No wonder it is a favorite retreat of the true disciple of the Lord (cf. Ps. 1; 1 Jn. 2.1-6). The Law does not save us. The Law marks out the path which those who are saved will walk, so that they might know the real purpose and power of living in the Kingdom of God (Matt. 5.17-19). 

The Law of God can civilize our souls as surely as it civilized pagan Irish society. And we could all do with a little more civilizing grace and truth.

Psalm 119.1-8 (Ode to Joy: “God, All Nations Sing Thy Glory”)
Blest are they whose way is blameless,
All who walk within God’s Law,
Who, His testimonies keeping,
Seek Him, filled with joy and awe.
These are they who, no wrong doing,
Ever walk within God’s ways.
Lord, Your precepts You command us;
We would keep them all our days.

Lord, grant Your most helpful assistance to me, though I am least of all the deserving.
  - Adapted from Colum Cille, Altus Prosator

T. M. Moore, Principal
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