In the first reading, Ezra gets a strange reaction from the people to whom he reads the book of the law. First they lie down, with faces to the ground, and then they all are weeping. Remember the background of this reading. The people of Israel had returned from exile and needed to become a unified nation. Many probably didn’t know that they had been breaking the law. Others might have been overwhelmed with all the requirements of the law.
Ezra and Nehemiah console the people by reminding them that their return makes this a day “holy to the Lord” (Nehemiah 8:10). He adds that they would get strength from “rejoicing in the Lord.” That may be good advice for us also.
We might find ourselves so trapped in sin that we think we could never be forgiven. We need to remember that Jesus loved sinners so much, he gave his life on the cross to free us from sin. No sin can be so bad that God’s love cannot forgive it. In fact, the more I have to repent, the more God wants to forgive. So we can rejoice in the Lord’s forgiveness and the Spirit will give us the strength to change our lives.
And what about those who find the law overwhelming? That can be because we have forgotten Jesus’ saying that all of God’s laws are contained in the command to love God and love our neighbor as we love ourselves. The more we come to accept God’s presence in our lives and see God in others, the easier it becomes to keep the law of love.
Tom Schmidt, Diocesan Publications
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/012625.cfm