August 8, 2015
Sentences like: “Drill them into your children”, “Bind them
at your wrist”, “Let them be a pendant on your forehead”, “Write them on the
doorposts of your houses”, like modern day hash tags, suggest that something
paramount needs attention: heart, soul, and strength or the Great Shema. Shema
means to hear or witness the name of God. This prayer is where it all begins.
“It” being faith. The Israelites believed
that the heart and mind were one so in this prayer, let our thoughts and
feelings be undivided and devoted to God alone. The soul is where our energy or
lifeblood resides, so let us be willing to lay our lives down for the love of
God. Strength refers not only to our physical selves but all of our earthly
possessions as well. Give it all to God.
·
Drill
it: Let God’s love penetrate our
hearts, move into our minds, permeate our souls, and infuse our bodies with
undivided devotion and focus. Drills build habits and the habit of loving God
first is an absolute must.
·
Wear
it: Let’s go all out and get
tattoos of God’s name, shall we??!! Not necessary but, this one seems pretty
Catholic to me. Don’t we wear reminders of Christ around our necks and wrists?
Seems pretty basic but it’s good to repurpose our reminders so that they do
help us to remember oneness of heart, soul, and strength.
·
Write
it: We have it drilled into our
minds, hearts, body, and soul, we wear it around our necks and wrists, and on
our foreheads, and we need one last tool to really really really lock it in.
Write it over and over, read it over and over.
This foundation of faith sets the stage for today’s
gospel. After the apostles were unable
to heal a young boy with epilepsy, they ask Jesus why. He said, “Because of
your little faith.” Then he goes on with the classic image of having faith the
size of a mustard seed. A pinpricked
ounce of heart, soul, and strength loving God and only God, can flourish into
hillsides of yellow witness or shema, and hillsides of yellow witness move the
mountain as the breath of God blows through and the dance of faith that we
participate in writes, wears, and drills the words of love on our hearts and souls,
and gives us the strength to heal and thrive.
Might I suggest committing the passage from Deuteronomy
6:4-9 to memory so that the beginning of faith becomes firmly planted as a seed
that will become a wild and thriving witness to all.
Reading 1 DT 6:4-13
Moses said to the people:
“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.
Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today.
Drill them into your children.
Speak of them at home and abroad, whether you are busy or at rest.
Bind them at your wrist as a sign
and let them be as a pendant on your forehead.
Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.
“When the LORD, your God, brings you into the land which he swore
to your fathers: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
that he would give you,
a land with fine, large cities that you did not build,
with houses full of goods of all sorts that you did not garner,
with cisterns that you did not dig,
with vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant;
and when, therefore, you eat your fill,
take care not to forget the LORD,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.
The LORD, your God, shall you fear;
him shall you serve, and by his name shall you swear.”
“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.
Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today.
Drill them into your children.
Speak of them at home and abroad, whether you are busy or at rest.
Bind them at your wrist as a sign
and let them be as a pendant on your forehead.
Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.
“When the LORD, your God, brings you into the land which he swore
to your fathers: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
that he would give you,
a land with fine, large cities that you did not build,
with houses full of goods of all sorts that you did not garner,
with cisterns that you did not dig,
with vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant;
and when, therefore, you eat your fill,
take care not to forget the LORD,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.
The LORD, your God, shall you fear;
him shall you serve, and by his name shall you swear.”
Gospel MT 17:14-20
A man came up to Jesus, knelt down before him, and said,
“Lord, have pity on my son, who is a lunatic and suffers severely;
often he falls into fire, and often into water.
I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him.”
Jesus said in reply,
“O faithless and perverse generation, how long will I be with you?
How long will I endure you?
Bring the boy here to me.”
Jesus rebuked him and the demon came out of him,
and from that hour the boy was cured.
Then the disciples approached Jesus in private and said,
“Why could we not drive it out?”
He said to them, “Because of your little faith.
Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed,
you will say to this mountain,
‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move.
Nothing will be impossible for you.”
“Lord, have pity on my son, who is a lunatic and suffers severely;
often he falls into fire, and often into water.
I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him.”
Jesus said in reply,
“O faithless and perverse generation, how long will I be with you?
How long will I endure you?
Bring the boy here to me.”
Jesus rebuked him and the demon came out of him,
and from that hour the boy was cured.
Then the disciples approached Jesus in private and said,
“Why could we not drive it out?”
He said to them, “Because of your little faith.
Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed,
you will say to this mountain,
‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move.
Nothing will be impossible for you.”
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