Word to the Wise
Friday, July 31, 2015 - Friday in the 17th Week in Ordinary Time
[Lev 23:1, 4-11, 15-16, 27, 34b-37 and Matt 13:54-58]"These are the festivals of the Lord which you shall celebrate at their proper time with a sacred assembly...." [Leviticus]
JULY 31 - ST. IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA, S.J.- founder of the Jesuits.
The Book of Leviticus does not make a frequent appearance in the lectionary of scriptures for Mass! Some, maybe many, would say a fervent prayer of thanks because Leviticus is mostly the rules for daily living and worship that were designed to maintain holiness and order within the community. The selection for today's first scripture come from the second half of the book which scripture scholars call the "Book of Holiness." This governs the festivals and how ceremonies were to be celebrated. Side by side, however, are a rule about what the High Priest's garments should be made of and the commandment to love our neighbor as our self! (Lev. 19:18 and 19). This was the source of Jesus' quarrel with the scribes and Pharisees. How can something as important as love of neighbor be given equal status with a rule about cloth! Yet, the Pharisees seemed to give all 613 precepts equal value. No wonder Jesus applauded the scribe and the lawyer who gave greater importance, indeed crucial importance, to love of God and neighbor as containing all the goals of the Mosaic Law.
This is no quaint and irrelevant question. A few years ago, a document governing liturgical life in the church had a paragraph that encouraged Catholics to report liturgical "abuses" to the church authorities. When these are truly grave, that is a proper thing to do, but many priests will know of parishioners who will come up after Mass and say, "You forgot to.....Tsk, tsk!" What Jesus did was to restore perspective to religious life. Not all rules are equally important. St. Thomas Aquinas pointed out that no legislator can account for every possibility. Laws are made "ut in pluribus," [for most cases]. The prophets thundered in the Old Testament about ceremonial pretense and neglect of the poor. Dignified and sacred ceremony is important, but it is not on the same level as love of God and neighbor. Indeed the whole purpose of the former is to encourage the latter! AMEN
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