Romans 13: 8-14

Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

     St. Paul explains to the Christian Community in Rome, which is composed of both Gentile and Jewish converts, that following the law is relevant to their faith. But there is a need to look beyond technically following the law. The need is to focus on loving one another, as Jesus commanded. For when people love one another, behave towards each other with courtesy, respect, acceptance, encouragement, and self-respect, they are fulfilling the law given to the people by Moses.
      I love to play Spider Solitaire on the computer. Until recently, my goal was to use the least possible moves to win a game. I was focused on the score itself. Then my focus changed to the percentage of games I could win. I started paying attention to the statistics and quit worrying about how many moves it took to win the game. My experience of the game has changed. And surprisingly, I win the game more often now than I used to.
    The similarity between my story and St. Paul’s admonition is about shifting the focus from the details to the essential purpose.
For my solitaire game, I shifted from looking at the score for each game to thinking strategically while I play the game. St. Paul advises the Christians in Rome, and us, to shift from paying attention to the letter of the law to loving one another in all the possible ways that are available to us.

Lord, help us to trust in you so that we may "lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light, [. . .] to put on the Lord Jesus Christ," as a cloak of love so that we may truly love one another as you have loved us.