Today's reading from Hebrews we are told that God will make a new covenant, apparently for the Christians who came after Christ's mission was complete. Seemingly the early Christians had failed the covenant God had made with them. His plan was to "put my laws in their minds," and to "write them upon their hearts."
What Paul is stressing is the the covenant relationship was to be more than observing them as a set of laws. Interior commitment was expected: not simply the letter of the law but the spirit of the law would distinguish a true follower of Jesus.
The tough reality about commitment is that there is no genuine commitment without implications. To know this and to try to live this is simply to realize the sacrifices we encounter and the cross we are asked, at times, to carry.
To help us live our lives in this manner, prayer, reflection and observances of the covenant practices, we gradually bring our lives into a conformity that is not a jacket but rather a unification with what is peace!
All of this convent relationship boils down to this: do I really want to love God? do I love God? Or is it rather something like, "well, if I do this or that as prescribed," all is well? The author of the Letter to the Hebrews would reject the latter suggestion.
