Saturday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Hear O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone! Therefore, you shall love the Lord you God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. Take to heart these words… This is the beginning of the great Shema – a profound statement of faith of the Jewish people to this day. Jesus would have known and recited this great prayer. As the rest of today’s text from Deuteronomy states, the Israelites were charged that they “take care not to forget the Lord, who brought them out of Egypt.”
Jesus grew up in that tradition, the Family of Israel. When he was asked about the greatest commandments, this statement formed the part of the first of the comments. It was and remains God’s goodness, presence, and deliverance that the Children of Israel were called to remember always.
In just the same way we are called to remember and relive what Jesus accomplished through his preaching his many cures and miracles. “In every age O Lord, you have been our refuge.” Psalm 90.
Reflection by Fr. Peter Ullrich, OSB
Posted in Articles for Ordinary Time, Daily Reflections