Hear of God

The scribe and Jesus come to agree on the nature of the first Commandment today in the texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary. This agreement between Jesus and the religious authorities of His time seems to be rare in the works of the Evangelists. This section of the Gospel of Mark is Jesus presentation of the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4-9). The central prayer and instruction to Israel is to hear. The Word which we hear tells us that God is the focus of our life. We love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.  Friar Jude Winkler explains the heart is understood in Jesus time as the centre of our intellect, the soul as our life force, the mind as our conscious awareness of the worldly distractions from God, and the strength as our physical possessions which we use to serve the Will of God. This ancient and modern commitment to God is the basis whereby we can act to treat our neighbours as ourselves. The texts from Hosea and the petition of the psalmist today reveal what we know too well that we are in need of reset and return to God as we continue to be attracted by and stumble on the illusions of better life and greater freedom from a world focused on self satisfaction and getting all we can by trust in human motivations and intrigues. The command echoes in our consciousness “Hear, O Israel”.