Word to the Wise
Friday, August 11, 2017 - Friday in the 18th Week in Ordinary Time
[Deut 4:32-40 and Matt 16:24-28]"This is why you must now know, and fix in your heart, that the Lord is God in the heavens above and on earth below, and that there is no other. You must keep his statutes and commandments which I enjoin on you today, that you and your children after you may prosper, and that you may have long life on the land which the Lord, your God, is giving you forever." [Deuteronomy]
AUGUST 11 ST. CLARE OF ASSISI
The Book of Deuteronomy is the fifth and final book of the Torah (or Pentateuch) - the law of Moses. Although these five "books" are treated as a unit religiously, they represent writings and oral traditions that stretch over more than a thousand years, and most of the writing took place beginning around 600 years before Christ. The first scriptures for the daily liturgy have been moving through these five books for some time. Deuteronomy, itself, is basically a retelling and restatement of all that was contained in the previous four books, but as a result of a "reform" in the life of Israel, led by one of the few kings that gets a favorable review in the Old Testament, Josiah (640-609 BC).
What the words quoted above can remind us of is the importance of keeping faith and how our faith is shaped by a "narrative" that paints a broad historical record of people on whose shoulders we stand. Moses paints that "big picture" of the liberation of Israel from Egypt before speaking the words quoted above. That "narrative" inspired the Civil Rights Movement in this country and continues to inspire any people who have yearned for freedom from slavery and oppression. We do this kind of thing around Thanksgiving when we recount the story of the pilgrims and Native Americans coming together, etc. etc. Another example might occur when those of us who grew up in the Catholic Church of the pre-Vatican II era recall the faith and devotion of the immigrant Catholics who came to this country and overcame discrimination.
"Telling the story" is an important form of preaching that we can do for one another to help us keep our faith and culture true to its best values. It is not just our children who benefit, but also us elders! AMEN
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