Ancient and eternal Law for Life

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today take us to the Ancient Hebrew understanding of our relationship with God and invite contemplation of Jesus invitation to live in the Love that we extend from God to our neighbour.

Neighbours gather

The Book of Deuteronomy calls us to place God above all in our lives.

* [6:4] Hear, O Israel!: in Hebrew, shema yisra’el; hence this passage (vv. 4–9), containing the Great Commandment, is called the Shema. In later Jewish tradition, 11:13–21 and Nm 15:37–41 were added to form a prayer recited every evening and morning. The LORD is our God, the LORD alone: other possible translations are “the Lord our God is one Lord”; “the Lord our God, the Lord is one”; “the Lord is our God, the Lord is one.”

In the Letter to the Hebrews we have a comparison of the priesthood of Jesus to the Hebrew high priest.

* [7:26–28] Jesus is precisely the high priest whom the human race requires, holy and sinless, installed far above humanity (Heb 7:26); one having no need to offer sacrifice daily for sins but making a single offering of himself (Heb 7:27) once for all. The law could only appoint high priests with human limitations, but the fulfillment of God’s oath regarding the priesthood of Melchizedek (Ps 110:4) makes the Son of God the perfect priest forever (Heb 7:28).

In the Gospel from Mark, Jesus connects Love of God and Neighbour in response to queries from the religious authorities.

* [12:13–34] In the ensuing conflicts (cf. also Mk 2:1–3:6) Jesus vanquishes his adversaries by his responses to their questions and reduces them to silence (Mk 12:34).
* [12:13–17] See note on Mt 22:15–22.
* [12:18–27] See note on Mt 22:23–33.
* [12:28–34] See note on Mt 22:34–40.

Mariana Miller comments that the scribe realizes that loving God is not about burning offerings and sacrifices but about loving our neighbor as we love ourselves. And he was not far from the kingdom of God.

Do we really believe that loving God with our whole humanity and loving our neighbor like we love ourselves is more important than burning offerings and sacrifices? Do we live accordingly? Do we try to “substitute” love for our neighbor? How?

Don Schwager quotes “Love God with one's whole self”, by Gregory of Nyssa, 330-395 AD.

"Human life consists in a threefold unity. We are taught similarly by the apostle in what he says to the Ephesians, praying for them that the complete grace of their 'body and soul and spirit' may be preserved at the coming of the Lord. We use the word 'body,' for the nutritive part, the word for the vital, 'soul,' and the word 'spirit' for the intellective dimension. In just this way the Lord instructs the writer of the Gospel that he should set before every commandment that love to God which is exercised with all the heart and soul and mind (Mark 12:30; Matthew 22:37; Luke 10:27). This single phrase embraces the human whole: the corporeal heart, the mind as the higher intellectual and mental nature, and the soul as their mediator." (excerpt from ON THE MAKING OF MAN 8.5.10)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Deuteronomy 6:2-6 considers that fearing God is not the same as living in terror of him. It’s more about having a proper reverence for him.

As with so many other truths in the Bible, fearing the Lord is a different thing than the earthly kind of fear we are all familiar with. It is a positive disposition, not a negative one. It’s a way of building our faith and deepening our relationship with God, not keeping us distant from him.
At its heart, fear of God helps us to say no to our sinful desires. It functions more as a way of protection than as a means of oppression. It’s fear of God that moves us to say, “I don’t want to say or do anything that will cause me to be separated from my heavenly Father.”

Friar Jude Winkler discusses the credal formula in Deuteronomy. Everything, Jesus the high priest offers is for us. Friar Jude explains loving God with our mind is associated with our conscience.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, shares that all we have to do is receive God’s gaze and then return what we have received. We simply complete the divine circuit, “love returning love” as father St. Francis put it.

There is only one thing you must definitely answer for yourself: “Who am I?” Or, restated, “Where do I abide?” If you can get that right, the rest largely takes care of itself. Paul answers the questions directly: “You are hidden with Christ in God, and Christ is your life” (Colossians 3:3-4). Every time you start hating yourself, ask, “Who am I?” The answer will come: “I am hidden with Christ in God” in every part of my life. I am bearing both the mystery of suffering humanity and the mystery of God’s glory, which is precisely the mystery of Christ. (Allow yourself to be shocked by the universality of Scriptures like 1 Corinthians 3:21-23, 15:22-28 or Colossians 1:15-20.)

This is our spiritual agenda for our whole life.

References

(n.d.). Deuteronomy chapter 6 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved November 4, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/deuteronomy/6
(n.d.). Hebrews chapter 7 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved November 4, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/hebrews/7
(n.d.). Mark chapter 12 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved November 4, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/mark/12
(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections .... Retrieved November 4, 2018, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved November 4, 2018, from https://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/
(2018, November 3). Meditations - The Word Among Us. Retrieved November 4, 2018, from https://wau.org/meditations/2018/11/04/
(2017, December 30). 2018 Daily Meditations - Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved November 4, 2018, from https://cac.org/2018-daily-meditations/