8-29-21
Today, we are called to be doers of God’s Word… To follow his law of love… To live in his Truth for all to see! On August 29th each year we remember the beheading of our Patron, St. John the Baptist! I can think of no better example to begin with today than he - A doer of God’s Word, and one who lived in the Truth for all to see! He has two Feast Days. One for his birth and one for his martyrdom. In his birth we celebrate that, as Jesus put it, no greater man has been born of a woman. Today, let us try to understand the courage that one needs to live out their commitment to this faith of ours!
So let us look to our Patron Saint for example as Jesus calls us to authenticity. But let us all also be courageous enough to grapple with Christ’s warning to us, for no one (or nothing) from outside ourselves is to blame for our sinfulness. It’s something that possesses us from the inside, affecting us deep within, slowly taking hold, but leaving our outer shell intact so no one can see the difference.
Maybe during the Exodus, as we left the bondage of Pharo, this was the reality we journeyed towards the promised land. Maybe in the community there were breakdowns, struggles and name calling. Maybe trust was betrayed or doubt consumed them.
(From the First Reading from Deuteronomy) Moses said to the people: “Now, Israel, hear the statutes and decrees which I am teaching you to observe, that you may live…”
In other words I want us to LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST
But there are just a few important rules to follow!
Just two chapters after todays reference to the Lord’s Statutes, basically listed in the 10 Commandments found three books earlier in Exodus, he offered a very important summary, or short cut if you will, in the daily praying of the Schema (DT 6: 4-6):
“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone! Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with your whole heart, and with your whole being, and with your whole strength. Take to heart these words which I command you today.”
Remember those words: Heart, Whole Being and Strength!
Now hidden in a verse back in Leviticus (Lev. 19:18) you’ll find something even more basic that God revealed: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Widows… Orphans… Aliens… Those in most need!
So it stands to reason that (as depicted in Matthew’s Gospel) when the Pharisees tried to test Jesus, asking him to pick the “The Greatest Commandment,” he answered with these two summaries that every Pharisee would know: (cf. DT 6: 4-6 and Lev. 19:18)
“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
A Quick Aside: The Ten Commandments
1-3 = DT 6: 4-6… I am God, No name in vain, and Keep the Sabbath holy. Love the LORD, your God, with your whole heart, and with your whole being, and with your whole strength
4-10 = Lev. 19:18)… No Killing, Adultery, Stealing, Lying, Coveting Neighbors Spouses, and Good… “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Easy to grasp, right? But remember, there were many other rules that evolved via the Torah… 613 to be exact, so things got pretty tense… In fact, it became very easy to use all of these as a litmus to identify the faults of others, and the Pharisees became quite good at just that, which brings us to today’s Gospel of Mark, as the ones enforcing the rules were the ones most at fault!
“This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts. You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.”
While we’re not Pharisees here, this is still not easy to hear… How many extra “rules” have we added in our world today to assist in the scrutiny of others, while we can’t even love our own neighbors?
CCC 2505 - “Truth or truthfulness is the virtue which consists in showing oneself true in deeds and truthful in words, and guarding against duplicity, dissimulation, and hypocrisy.”
WE ARE CALLED TO LIVE IN THAT TRUTH, and when we don’t, or worse, when we hide behind our seemingly perfect outer shell, we deteriorate from the inside
“Hear me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile…evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.” This list goes on.
We are all prone to sin, and we have the Sacrament of Reconciliation to help us heal, but to accuse others and hide your own guilt… This is a problem! You honor God with your lips, but not with your actions!
Earlier I asked you to remember Heart, Whole Being and Strength!
To love the Lord with all of your heart is, as James said in the second reading, to “humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you,” and to love Him with your whole being allows you to be open to God and his word to, as James put it to save your souls. Finally, to love the Lord with all of your strength allows you to,, as James challenged us, to be doers of the word and not just hearers only…”
Do these things, and I promise loving your neighbor will become a lot easier!
Today, we are called to be doers of God’s Word… To follow his law of love… To live in his Truth for all to see! On August 29th each year we remember the beheading of our Patron, St. John the Baptist! I can think of no better example to begin with today than he - A doer of God’s Word, and one who lived in the Truth for all to see! He has two Feast Days. One for his birth and one for his martyrdom. In his birth we celebrate that, as Jesus put it, no greater man has been born of a woman. Today, let us try to understand the courage that one needs to live out their commitment to this faith of ours!
So let us look to our Patron Saint for example as Jesus calls us to authenticity. But let us all also be courageous enough to grapple with Christ’s warning to us, for no one (or nothing) from outside ourselves is to blame for our sinfulness. It’s something that possesses us from the inside, affecting us deep within, slowly taking hold, but leaving our outer shell intact so no one can see the difference.
Maybe during the Exodus, as we left the bondage of Pharo, this was the reality we journeyed towards the promised land. Maybe in the community there were breakdowns, struggles and name calling. Maybe trust was betrayed or doubt consumed them.
(From the First Reading from Deuteronomy) Moses said to the people: “Now, Israel, hear the statutes and decrees which I am teaching you to observe, that you may live…”
In other words I want us to LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST
But there are just a few important rules to follow!
Just two chapters after todays reference to the Lord’s Statutes, basically listed in the 10 Commandments found three books earlier in Exodus, he offered a very important summary, or short cut if you will, in the daily praying of the Schema (DT 6: 4-6):
“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone! Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with your whole heart, and with your whole being, and with your whole strength. Take to heart these words which I command you today.”
Remember those words: Heart, Whole Being and Strength!
Now hidden in a verse back in Leviticus (Lev. 19:18) you’ll find something even more basic that God revealed: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Widows… Orphans… Aliens… Those in most need!
So it stands to reason that (as depicted in Matthew’s Gospel) when the Pharisees tried to test Jesus, asking him to pick the “The Greatest Commandment,” he answered with these two summaries that every Pharisee would know: (cf. DT 6: 4-6 and Lev. 19:18)
“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
A Quick Aside: The Ten Commandments
1-3 = DT 6: 4-6… I am God, No name in vain, and Keep the Sabbath holy. Love the LORD, your God, with your whole heart, and with your whole being, and with your whole strength
4-10 = Lev. 19:18)… No Killing, Adultery, Stealing, Lying, Coveting Neighbors Spouses, and Good… “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Easy to grasp, right? But remember, there were many other rules that evolved via the Torah… 613 to be exact, so things got pretty tense… In fact, it became very easy to use all of these as a litmus to identify the faults of others, and the Pharisees became quite good at just that, which brings us to today’s Gospel of Mark, as the ones enforcing the rules were the ones most at fault!
“This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts. You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.”
While we’re not Pharisees here, this is still not easy to hear… How many extra “rules” have we added in our world today to assist in the scrutiny of others, while we can’t even love our own neighbors?
CCC 2505 - “Truth or truthfulness is the virtue which consists in showing oneself true in deeds and truthful in words, and guarding against duplicity, dissimulation, and hypocrisy.”
WE ARE CALLED TO LIVE IN THAT TRUTH, and when we don’t, or worse, when we hide behind our seemingly perfect outer shell, we deteriorate from the inside
“Hear me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile…evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.” This list goes on.
We are all prone to sin, and we have the Sacrament of Reconciliation to help us heal, but to accuse others and hide your own guilt… This is a problem! You honor God with your lips, but not with your actions!
Earlier I asked you to remember Heart, Whole Being and Strength!
To love the Lord with all of your heart is, as James said in the second reading, to “humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you,” and to love Him with your whole being allows you to be open to God and his word to, as James put it to save your souls. Finally, to love the Lord with all of your strength allows you to,, as James challenged us, to be doers of the word and not just hearers only…”
Do these things, and I promise loving your neighbor will become a lot easier!
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