“I have come, not to abolish the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them.” Matthew 5:17-19.

Second Letter to the Corinthians 3:4-11. 
Brothers and sisters: Such confidence we have through Christ toward God.
Not that of ourselves we are qualified to take credit for anything as coming from us; rather, our qualification comes from God,
who has indeed qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter brings death, but the Spirit gives life.
Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, was so glorious that the Israelites could not look intently at the face of Moses because of its glory that was going to fade,
how much more will the ministry of the Spirit be glorious?
For if the ministry of condemnation was glorious, the ministry of righteousness will abound much more in glory.
Indeed, what was endowed with glory has come to have no glory in this respect because of the glory that surpasses it.
For if what was going to fade was glorious, how much more will what endures be glorious.



Psalms 99(98):5.6.7.8.9.
Extol the LORD, our God,
and worship at his footstool;
holy is he!

Moses and Aaron were among his priests,
and Samuel, among those who called upon his name;
they called upon the LORD, and he answered them.

From the pillar of cloud he spoke to them;
they heard his decrees and the law he gave them.

O LORD, our God, you answered them;
a forgiving God you were to them,
though requiting their misdeeds.

Extol the LORD, our God,
and worship at his holy mountain;
for holy is the LORD, our God.



Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 5:17-19. 

Jesus said to his disciples: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.
Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven."

“I have come, not to abolish the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them.”

Do you want to know how Jesus, far from abolishing the law and the prophets, comes rather to confirm and to complete them? Where the prophets are concerned, this happens first of all when he confirms through his works what they had announced. This is where the expression comes from, constantly repeated in St. Matthew: “That the word of the prophet might be fulfilled”…

Where the law is concerned, Jesus fulfilled it in three ways. First of all, by not omitting any of its legal requirements. He told John the Baptist: “We must do this if we would fulfill all of God’s demands,” (Mt 3:15). To the Jews he said: “Can any of you convict me of sin?” (Jn 8:46)… In the second place, he fulfills it because he wanted to submit himself to it for our salvation. Oh marvel! By submitting to it, he communicated to us, too, the grace of fulfilling it! St. Paul teaches us this when he says: “Christ is the end of the law. Through him, justice comes to everyone who believes,” (Rom 10:4). He also says that the Savior condemned sin in the flesh “so that the just demands of the law might be fulfilled in us who live not according to the flesh,” (Rom 8:4.) He also says: “Are we then abolishing the law by means of faith? Not at all! On the contrary, we are confirming the law,” (Rom 3:31).

For the law aimed at making a person righteous, but it didn’t have the strength do so so; then Christ came, he who is the end of the law, and he showed us the way which leads to righteousness, that is to say faith. Thus he fulfilled the law’s intention. The letter of the law could not justify the sinner; faith in Jesus Christ will justify him. That is why he can say: “I have not come to abolish the law.”

Now, if we look more closely, we can perceive a third way of fulfilling the law. What is this? It consists in the very precepts, which Christ had to give; far from overturning those of Moses, they are their just consequence and their natural complement.