Because of the various feast days that we have been celebrating over the past week, we have missed some of the readings that ordinarily would be proclaimed during this 18th week of Ordinary Time. We have reached the last book of the Torah or Pentateuch, the Book of Deuteronomy. The title of this book is taken from the Greek and means “the second law.” When the Israelites reached the Jordan River, Moses, knowing that he would not be entering the Promised Land with them, asked them to pitch camp on the eastern side of the river. During the pause that ensued, he did what every teacher has done before a big test, he reviewed what had happened over the past forty years. For a second time, the Israelites were taught what was expected of them as God’s chosen people.
This review has one special characteristic. The word that is used most often throughout the book is the word “today.” “Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today.” Moses wants them to realize that even though the events of Passover and the instruction they received at Sinai happened before the majority of them were born, they are just as present today as they were when they happened to their parents and grandparents.
Today’s reading focuses on the most important verse in Jewish literature, the “Shema, Israel.” “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.” This verse is called the “Shema,” the Hebrew word from the first word of the verse, “Hear.” The verse has become a prayer which every Jew recites every day and is the clarion call of Judaism. Not only did this exclamation of Jewish faith become ever more clearly an enunciation of absolute monotheism, but it also demanded absolute, total devotion from each Israelite. They are instructed to drill it into their children, to wear it in their wrist bracelets and to post it at the door to their homes.
This first and greatest commandment of Judaism is the first and greatest commandment for Christians as well. Jesus demands total and absolute devotion of us. Everything else in our lives must be secondary to God. Jesus then demonstrates exactly what that means through the act of obedience that we remember each day in the Eucharist. His life, our lives, belong to the Lord.
Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator