Galatians 3:22-29 / Luke 11:27-28
We know that when we keep the law and be good citizens, then we can be assured that the law will protect us.
Anyway the law is supposed to protect those who follow what is stipulated and also deters wrong-doing.
So we can say that the law is our guardian and it is expressed in the form of law-enforcement officers.
Yet we know that there can be loopholes in the law such that the guilty can get away scot free and law-enforcement officers can be corrupt.
Hence, we may be able to understand what the 1st reading meant when St. Paul said that the Law was the guardian of the people until Jesus Christ came along and then they could be justified by faith.
The Law was there for the people to keep to it and follow it. Yet the problem here could be that in just keeping to the precepts of the Law, there may not be a faith that is expressed in a covenental relationship of love.
Because it is in believing in God who loves us and sent His Son Jesus Christ to save us that we want to love Him in return and to express our love for God through the precepts of our faith.
Hence we keep the Law not because of benefits or punishment but because we love God who loved us first.
As Jesus said in the gospel, happier still are those who hear the Word of God and keep it. Because hearing the Word must lead us to believe, and in believing we must be loving.
Otherwise it will just be a case of hearing and then doing nothing about it.