"Lord, you are near and all your commandments are just" (Entrance Antiphon, Psalm 119). If we read this Antiphon without reflecting whether there is any inherent connection between its two phrases, we will miss its profound logic.

Let us reflect on the connection between God's nearness and the justice of his commandments. It is God's nearness, his loving presence, which makes his commandments just and an understanding of the justice of God's commandments opens our hearts to God's presence.

Israel's religious experience taught them that God was close to them (Deut 4:7). Hence it was good to be near God (Ps 73:8). Therefore even if he spoke from the mountaintop, God did not speak from far away like some remote emperor, but was really speaking with that sympathetic and healing love which draws him close to the broken-hearted (Ps 34:18).

Realizing the justice of God's commandments opens our hearts to his presence. The Commandments are primarily God's word, and God's word is commandment indeed, but also revelation, promise, encouragement, invitation. A recognition of this and its implications will reveal to us the loving wisdom of God's revealed truth and the wise love that guides us by his word in the way of Christ and consecrates in the truth. (Jn 17:17).