Spirituality of the Readings
With All Your Heart
Most of us are accustomed to a world that adheres to something called “the bottom line.”
It envisions lots of money and success, and sees everyone else as wanting the same thing. Usually this means ignoring values such as God, religion, Jesus, spirituality, fidelity, and truth, among others.
Jesus’ question from last Sunday, “what do you want” might not get much notice.
For instance, television shows use values such as this: (1) get viewers (2) sell advertising (3) make money.
Ok. But some other cultures have had a far different answer to the question, “What do you want?”
First, look at First Reading for Sunday. There, people do not seem to be voraciously seeking money and power and riches.
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.
Could this be a basis for contemporary life? It is a centerpiece of all morning and evening Jewish prayer services. It indicates vividly the way in which ancient Judaism believed in a single, unified God. This passage is considered the most important in all Jewish prayer.
Here are the moving words that Moses says just after the above:
And these words that I command you today shall be in your heart.
And you shall teach them diligently to your children,
and you shall speak of them when you sit at home,
and when you walk along the way,
and when you lie down and when you rise up.
And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand,
and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.
And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house
and on your gates.*
How strong this is. How affectionate. A basis for life.
You do not have to be a fundamentalist to respond to it. Could you utter these words and make them a basis for your own life? Much depends on your answer.
Second, what does Jesus add to this foundation of Jewish belief?
Take a look at this week’s Gospel. Jesus quotes the saying of Moses, in slightly different words: “hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” Then he adds, “and you shall love your neighbor as yourself”(Gospel).**
God has always loved all people in the world, as shown throughout the entire bible. So, if you are close to God, your love must spill over to other people.
The question becomes, what is your life made of, and to whom does it spill over? And does it involve your whole heart?
John Foley, SJ
**From Saint Louis University