Saint Rita Catholic Church and School in Webster, NY - An Introduction to the Sunday Scripture Readings

“Hear O Israel! The Lord Is Our God, The Lord Alone”

Our readings this Sunday ask us to ponder a most important question: How should our lives be ordered? Jesus gives us the answer in today's Gospel.

In our first reading (Deuteronomy 6:2-6) we hear Moses teaching the Israelites the central theme of the Mosaic Law, what ultimately became known as the Shema Prayer. Shema, in Hebrew, is the first word of the prayer, "Hear O Israel. . . ." This prayer is still prayed to this day by devout Jews every morning and every night.

In our Epistle reading (Hebrews 7:23-28 ), we hear of the Jewish high priests, who would offer sacrifice once each year and would ultimately die and be replaced by another high priest. He would offer atonement for his own sins as well as those of the people by going behind the veil of the sanctuary and making whole burnt offerings to the Lord. Then we hear of Jesus, who is our eternal high priest. Because He remains forever, He offered His own body and blood as sacrifice once, for all people and for all time. Paul writes, “He has no need, as did the high priests, to offer sacrifice day after day,...He did that once for all when He offered himself.”

In our Gospel reading (Mark 12:28-34), Jesus was questioned by a scribe (scholar of the law), "What is the first of all commandments?" Jesus answered by reciting the Shema prayer we hear in our first reading. This is a prayer every Jew would learn from a very early age and recite three times per day. But Jesus then took His answer a step further, "Love your neighbor as yourself." In answering this way, Jesus distilled the ten commandments into its two basic sections—love of God (commandments 1—3) and love of neighbor (commandments 4-10). In responding, the scribe said that these two commandments “are worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

What Jesus puts to us succinctly in today's Gospel is the thought that sin is in one form or another an offense against God, another person, or our own person. That is why all the commandments can be summarized in these two great commandments—Love of God and Love of Neighbor. This might make for a good nightly examen - "How have I offended my God today; how have I offended my neighbor, how have I offended my own person?"