 |
| “Moses with the Ten Commandments” by Philippe de Champaigne,1648 |
Readings and
Commentary:[3]
Reading 1: Deuteronomy 6:2-6
Moses spoke to the people, saying:
"Fear the LORD, your God,
and keep, throughout the days of your lives,
all his statutes and commandments which I enjoin on you,
and thus have long life.
Hear then, Israel, and be careful to observe them,
that you may grow and prosper the more,
in keeping with the promise of the LORD, the God of your
fathers,
to give you a land flowing with milk and honey.
"Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone!
Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God,
with all your heart,
and with all your soul,
and with all your strength.
Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Dt 6:2-6
This passage is taken from Moses’ second address,
introducing the “Law” to the people of God.
Here he speaks of the covenantal responsibility the faithful have to
keep the Law of God. The people are
entering the land of Canaan, a fertile area (“…a land flowing with milk and honey”) much different from the desert
they have wandered. Moses points to this
gift as God’s offering in return for their faithful adherence to the Law.
The selection continues with an iteration of the “Shema”
(Hear). A prayer offered each day by religious Jews. It is basically an expansion of the First
Commandment, exhorting the people to reject all other gods (in the historical
context of the reading, this would apply especially to the Baal of
Canaan). The clear intent is to place
the love of God first in all things, making the need to offer all things to God
foremost in all circumstances and endeavors.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 18:2-3, 3-4, 47, 51
R. (2) I love you, Lord, my strength.
I love you, O LORD, my strength,
O LORD, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer.
R. I love you, Lord,
my strength.
My God, my rock of refuge,
my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold!
Praised be the LORD, I exclaim,
and I am safe from my enemies.
R. I love you, Lord,
my strength.
The LORD lives! And blessed be my rock!
Extolled be God my savior.
You who gave great victories to your king
and showed kindness to your anointed.
R. I love you, Lord,
my strength.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Ps 18:2-3, 3-4, 47, 51
The first strophes of this selection announce that Psalm 18
is a song of thanksgiving and praise.
God is seen as a protector in battle and a sure fortress against all
foes. David gives personal thanks in the
final strophes for the victory God has given and the kindness he shows to his
faithful.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reading 2: Hebrews 7:23-28
Brothers and sisters:
The levitical priests were many
because they were prevented by death from remaining in
office,
but Jesus, because he remains forever,
has a priesthood that does not pass away.
Therefore, he is always able to save those who approach God
through him,
since he lives forever to make intercession for them.
It was fitting that we should have such a high priest:
holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners,
higher than the heavens.
He has no need, as did the high priests,
to offer sacrifice day after day,
first for his own sins and then for those of the people;
he did that once for all when he offered himself.
For the law appoints men subject to weakness to be high
priests,
but the word of the oath, which was taken after the law,
appoints a son,
who has been made perfect forever.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Heb 7:23-28
The author continues to compare the Priesthood of Christ to the
levitical priesthood. In this passage he launches into the third reason Christ’s
Priesthood is supersedes the priesthood of the Levis. The levitical priests, because they were
mortal, died and it was necessary to replace them so the people would continue
to have intercessors. While Jesus, who is eternal, is eternally present. As we
see in Romans 6:9-10 “…We know that Christ, raised from the dead,
dies no more; death no longer has power over him. As to his death, he died to
sin once and for all; as to his life, he lives for God.” Jesus is the
eternal intercessor.
The second part of this reading (v. 26-28) constitutes a
hymn of praise to Christ the High Priest, summing up all that has gone
before. When Jesus ascended his throne
and assumed his High Priesthood, he made the one final sacrifice that frees all
people from their sins; the sacrifice of atonement that never needs to be
repeated. He sacrificed himself once and
for all. In doing so God appointed his Only
Begotten Son as Eternal High Priest – “perfect
forever.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gospel: Mark 12:28b-34
One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him,
"Which is the first of all the commandments?"
Jesus replied, "The first is this:
Hear, O Israel!
The Lord our God is Lord alone!
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul,
with all your mind,
and with all your strength.
The second is this:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these."
The scribe said to him, "Well said, teacher.
You are right in saying,
'He is One and there is no other than he.'
And 'to love him with all your heart,
with all your understanding,
with all your strength,
and to love your neighbor as yourself'
is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."
And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding,
he said to him,
"You are not far from the kingdom of God."
And no one dared to ask him any more questions.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Mk 12:28b-34
In the continuing dialogue with
the Sadducees from the Gospel of St. Mark we find the questioner is impressed
with the way Jesus handled the previous challenge by his colleagues (found in
the previous verses). The Lord answers his question about the law with the
Great Commandment, first with the opening of the Shema, the great Jewish Prayer and then he follows that statement
with the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. When the scholar clearly
understands what Jesus is saying, the Lord tells him he is “…not far from the Kingdom of God." (see also the commentary
on Matthew 22:34ff)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Homily:
When I was just a child I have to admit I was a real
stinker. If I wanted to do something
fun, like having a practice fire drill and have my sisters jump out of a window
into the snow as part of it, I’d first go to one parent (they had to be alone –
never try this when they are together) and see if they would agree. If the first parent did not, I’d figure out
what the objection was and then go and ask the other one, making sure to avoid
the area where I’d gotten objections from the first. It was pretty effective, even though it did
cause some rather heated discussions between my parents when one said yes and
the other no.
I must say I think my parents caught on to my little ploy
pretty quickly. Whenever the family gets
together one of the favorite stories my sisters like to tell is how I had them
jump out of a window 8 feet into a snow drift, in their pajamas with my practice
fire drill. Oh, and my parents never
said “Go ask your father.” Or “Go ask your Mother.” That’s how I got the idea in the first place.
As we look at the scripture passages that were proclaimed
today we can see a similar kind of rivalry over authority. In Deuteronomy, Moses is speaking to the
Hebrew people expanding the First Commandment saying
“The LORD is our God, the LORD alone!
Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God,
with all your heart,
and with all your soul,
and with all your strength.”
That important pronouncement later became the heart of a
prayer said by religious Jews to this day known as the Shema (meaning Hear). It
calls the faithful to put God absolutely first – all that is done in thought,
word, and actions must derive from the love of God.
In the Gospel from St. Mark, we hear Jesus responding to a
Jewish scholar, a Scribe, using the exact same reference. However the Lord takes it further, he then
goes on to quote another section of the Law from Leviticus 19:18 creating
the Great Commandment.
We can see the tension between the Jewish tradition and its
dedication to the rule of the Law and Prophets and the Christian realization
that Jesus came as Messiah fulfilling God’s promise clearly articulated in the
Hebrews reading as the author contrasts the levitical priesthood with our High
Priest, Jesus Christ. The priests that
offered sacrifices at the temple for the Jewish people were mortal. They died and successors needed to be
appointed so there would be someone to intercede on behalf of the people,
offering sacrifices of atonement to God.
Jesus, on the other hand is eternal, our Eternal High
Priest, he offed only one sacrifice and that sacrifice of himself upon the
cross was for all mankind and for all ages.
That tension exists to this day.
We are faced with an analogous situation today as we are
considering what we will need to do in the up-coming national elections. We must decide whose authority we
recognize. Do we submit to the authority
of our faith or to those who would tell us what we should believe? The Catholic Church does not endorse any
party or candidate. However, the Church
has and has always had an outspoken voice in the areas of faith and morals.
As you consider which candidate or proposition will receive
your vote we ask you to inform yourselves about the candidate’s position on
these important issues:
First – our faith teaches that we must respect human life,
from conception to natural death. An
informed conscience would know the position on this issue.
That’s actually quite complex since candidates on both sides
of some debates claim they support this moral view. The Church’s stance is that artificial
contraception, abortion (including abortion inducing drugs), and sterilization
are fundamentally wrong. Some candidates
attempt to modify their stance to accommodate all positions. The informed voter sees the person’s history
and understands when a candidate is claiming one position but supporting
another. There will be times when the
choices seem like trying to pick the lesser of two evils but we then look holistically
to support positions beyond those that are strictly moral.
Second – the Church believes in the dignity of work and the
human person. Candidates who support a
just system that allows a person to work for a living should be a
consideration. There is always going to
be tension between free enterprise and labor unions – each pushing against the
other for advantage. The Church supports
the individual – not capitalism or socialism; not business interests nor labor
union interests. Once more the informed
Christian conscience must decide.
Third – The Church teaches that Marriage is a sacred union
between a man and a woman, defined by natural law established in his
creation. As we heard just a few weeks
ago from Genesis “God created them male and female” and “…That is why a man
leaves his father and mother, clings to his wife and the two become one flesh.” The vote informed by faith would not be cast
for a candidate who supported Same-sex marriage.
The elephant in the room for the Church is the attacks on
religious freedom recently made by the current administration. Despite what you have heard in the political
rhetoric leading up to this election, the exceptions proposed to the HHS Mandate
that requires all employers of more than 50 people to provide health care
coverage for artificial contraceptives, abortion inducing drugs, and
sterilization are so narrowly defined that our major faith based organizations,
Catholic hospitals (637), Schools and Universities (700,000 students), and
Social Services Organizations (like the Capuchin Soup Kitchen in Detroit).
You see the mandate says that those Catholic Organizations
do not meet the rules for exemption because they don’t just serve
Catholics. The exemption requires that
in order to qualify, an organization must serve only its constituent faith. So, when our hospitals treat non-Catholics, they
don’t qualify, when our schools admit students of other denominations and
faiths, they don’t qualify. When our
social organizations feed, clothe or protect non-Catholics, they don’t
qualify. In essence, the mandate is
trying to tell us who we may call neighbor and how we define our own
faith. We must ask ourselves if the
candidates we are considering support this position.
Perhaps there are some who believe I am over reacting or
making a mountain out of a mole hill. If
you think so, I’ll give you a now famous quote from Cardinal Francis George
from Chicago who said recently “I expect to die in bed, my successor will die
in prison, and his successor will die a martyr’s death.” There was another piece that was omitted in
many publications that said: “His successor will pick up the shards of a ruined
society and slowly help rebuild civilization, as the church has done so often
in human history.”[4]
Make no mistake, we must take a stand for our faith as we participate in the
political process or we will wake up in the not too distant future wondering
where it went.
Today we recall the Great Commandment. Its message is clear as we participate in the
political process this next week, we keep in mind that our first priority must
be the love of God followed by the second which is like it – to love our
neighbor as ourselves.
Pax
In other Years: Saint Charles Borromeo, Bishop
[2]
The picture is “Moses with the Ten Commandments” by Philippe de Champaigne,1648
[3]
The readings are taken from the New American Bible with the exception of the
Psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for
English in Liturgy (ICEL). This
re-publication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[4]
Cardinal Francis George, Crisis Magazine, The Wrong
Side of History, October 24, 2012
No comments:
Post a Comment