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Exploring the word

04 Nov 2018 - Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

There seems to be some contemporary confusion about the meaning of the love command. A television series identified “big love” as a plural marriage: one husband, a bevy of wives. The title suggested that a man with several wives must have more love to give than the usual variety of husband. The reality is that he’s just spreading the same love more thinly across several relationships in the hallowed tradition of philandering. No, big love has nothing to do with numbers. Nor is the size of our love measured by the extravagance of romantic gestures performed, money spent, or poetic words multiplied. Big love is about total commitment, the kind you make with your words and your checkbook, your heart and your deeds. Such love doesn’t ask for your “quality time,” but for your lifetime. Needless to say, we see far less of this kind of love than is regularly and often exuberantly professed. Take these words to heart The nation gathered around Moses had survived generations of slavery in Egypt. They had known deprivation, degradation, and despair. Now Moses wanted to teach them something that maybe they didn’t know: how to live as the people of God. In order to take on this new identity, they had to stop fearing their fellow mortals and start fearing God alone. They had to cease looking to their taskmasters for food, orders, and mercy, and to accept and expect the sustenance, governance, and compassion of their saving Lord. They had to lift up their hearts and practice a bold new attitude: hope. People who still thought like slaves could not receive the freedom of the children of God. Above all, Moses declared, the people of God had to learn to love the Lord without reservation. Moses defined this total dedication as engaging the heart, soul, and strength. Later rabbis would ponder these aspects of love with close attention. The Shema’ (Hebrew for “hear,” the first word of the passage) would become the great prayer of the Second Temple Period, used in synagogue worship as well as in private piety. It remains significant for the Jewish believer in both communal and personal prayer today. For Jews, the Shema’ is a legally binding oath. In each recitation, the believer reenacts the covenant as the people once did before Moses. That is “taking these words to heart” most seriously. In the rabbinic thought of later centuries, the three obligations of love in the Shema’ were neatly distinguished. The “heart” was defined as the seat of loyalty owed to God and neighbor. The pledge of the “soul” implied a willingness to give one’s life for God. By comparison, “might” or “strength” was defined rather prosaically: It meant one’s wealth and property were at God’s disposal. Committing this “big love” to God was not a matter of emotion or affection at all, then. The people of God dedicated their allegiance, their lives, and their resources to God in a communally binding oath. Stirring up the passions It would take a more romantic age to attempt to turn the obligations of the Shema’ into passionate feelings about God. Consider for a moment the emotionally evocative prayers of a generation ago that routinely filled most devotions and novenas. The emphasis seemed to be directed toward wringing tears from the supplicant, arousing lively feelings of sorrow about the pain Jesus suffered or God’s disappointment in us sinners. We used words like adore and devotion liberally, beating our breasts as if trying to force the passion out. I don’t think it’s an improvement that today’s prayers have become almost tepid, a recitation of doctrine and intellectual assent that almost force the heart to wander distractedly. A place between passion and doctrine exists: the realm of dedicated engagement. This was the place Jesus urged true disciples to strive for when he addressed the scribe looking for guidance. He did not invent a new teaching, but confirmed the obligations of the Shema’ and the injunction to love the neighbor. (He added the love of the “mind” to the traditional list, which scholars have helpfully defined as a surrender of the will.) Those who take this oath daily with a depth of sincerity will find themselves at the threshold of the kingdom. Others, we might presume, will more likely be facing the eye of the needle. What are the implications of this teaching? Should we add the praying of the Shema’ and its Christian corollary to the Mass? That’s a matter for ICEL and Vox Clara, not for the average pastor (although many a presider adds his favorite prayers, ditties, and rituals to the liturgy and few are indelibly harmed by the practice). What may be more practical is to consider our sincerity in the profession of faith we already undertake each Sunday. If we challenged our assemblies to consider the profession of faith as legally binding, as an oath we are declaring before God and one another to uphold and to live out the ramifications of these beliefs, how many would stand each week to profess this faith? Not far from the Kingdom It could be a worthwhile meditation to take each line of our creed and consider its implications for Christian discipleship. What does it mean to our daily lives that “We believe in one God?” That we believe means it’s a joint venture of faith. That we believe means it’s not a fact obvious to everyone but a discernment we each choose for ourselves. That we believe in one God means that our God is a unity, not a hierarchy with special branches like the three branches of government. That we believe in one God means we profess our faith in an ultimate authority, supreme Being, last court of appeal, and eternity’s only superpower. If we put our trust in God, we have no need of other defenses, connections, or resources. If we live even one phrase of what we profess, we will find ourselves remarkably near the reign of God. Related scripture links Gospel parallel: Matt. 22:34-40 Love your neighbor: Lev. 19:18; Rom. 13:9; Gal. 5:14; James 2:8 Other words on love: John 3:16; 13:34-35; Rom. 13:10; 1 Cor. 13:1-13

Authors Alice Camille

big love total commitment shema dedicated engagement profession of faith

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Homily stories

03 Nov 2024 - Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

When Jesus is quizzed about the single most important Commandment, he responds with two—love of God AND love of neighbor. Today, we refer to this two-in-one directive as the Great Commandment. On the one hand, the Great Commandment is biblical shorthand for the Ten Commandments: of those ten decrees, the first few reference love of God, while all the rest pertain to love of neighbor. But the Great Commandment also shines a bright light on Judaism’s central teaching, called the Shema. The first part of the Great Commandment is a direct recitation of the Shema prayer (from the Old Testament books of Deuteronomy and Numbers): “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.” Why would Jesus tack “love of neighbor” onto the end of the Shema? Is it because the Shema’s exalted focus on God necessarily excludes us, as mere mortals? Not really. For an undeniable moral mindset flows implicitly from the Shema: Our “right relationship” with each other is spelled out in the very act of centering our lives wholeheartedly on God. Consider: We don’t exalt and worship God for God’s sake—God’s greatness doesn’t depend on us. We exalt and worship God to be reminded, repeatedly, that God is God and we are not. Jesus reminds us that we are not the center of the universe—and that love of neighbor springs largely from that realization.

Authors Mary Lynn Hendrickson

great commandment shema love of neighbor

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Word of the Week

24 November 2024

Solemnity

\sə-'lem-nə-tē\

From Latin sollemnis for “fixed ceremonial,” highest-ranking day of the church calendar that celebrates a mystery of faith such as the Trinity, an event in the life of Jesus, Mary, the Mother of God, or another important saint. Solemnities override every other feast or memorial, including Sundays in Ordinary Time. The church assigns Sundays and solemnities three readings—from a prophet, apostle, and gospel—to instruct the faithful in the work of salvation.

Pronunciation Read more

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