tiny flower on a branch taken aug 2006

 

Sister Joan Irene

Ez 37:1-14 The hand of the LORD came upon me, and led me out in the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the center of the plain, which was now filled with bones. He made me walk among the bones in every direction so that I saw how many they were on the surface of the plain. How dry they were! He asked me: Son of man, can these bones come to life? I answered, “Lord GOD, you alone know that.” Then he said to me: Prophesy over these bones, and say to them: Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: See! I will bring spirit into you, that you may come to life. I will put sinews upon you, make flesh grow over you, cover you with skin, and put spirit in you so that you may come to life and know that I am the LORD. I prophesied as I had been told, and even as I was prophesying I heard a noise; it was a rattling as the bones came together, bone joining bone. I saw the sinews and the flesh come upon them, and the skin cover them, but there was no spirit in them. Then the LORD said to me: Prophesy to the spirit, prophesy, son of man, and say to the spirit: Thus says the Lord GOD: From the four winds come, O spirit, and breathe into these slain that they may come to life. I prophesied as he told me, and the spirit came into them; they came alive and stood upright, a vast army. Then he said to me: Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They have been saying,“Our bones are dried up, our hope is lost, and we are cut off.” Therefore, prophesy and say to them: Thus says the Lord GOD: O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them, and bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and have you rise from them, O my people! I will put my spirit in you that you may live, and I will settle you upon your land; thus you shall know that I am the LORD. I have promised, and I will do it, says the LORD.

Ps 107:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
R. (1) Give thanks to the Lord; his love is everlasting.
Let the redeemed of the LORD say,those whom he has redeemed from the hand of the foeAnd gathered from the lands,from the east and the west, from the north and the south.
R. Give thanks to the Lord; his love is everlasting.
They went astray in the desert wilderness; the way to an inhabited city they did not find.Hungry and thirsty,their life was wasting away within them.
R. Give thanks to the Lord; his love is everlasting.
They cried to the LORD in their distress;from their straits he rescued them.And he led them by a direct wayto reach an inhabited city.
R. Give thanks to the Lord; his love is everlasting.
Let them give thanks to the LORD for his mercyand his wondrous deeds to the children of men,Because he satisfied the longing souland filled the hungry soul with good things.
R. Give thanks to the Lord; his love is everlasting. Reading II

Mt 22:34-40 When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law, tested him by asking,“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him,“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

I understand the law of the time aside from the 10 commandments, the Jewish law had over 600 tenets of law to follow. It is a time of trial and questioning of teaching authority when Jesus is asked to make a choice of what is more important because the laws of the ten commandments were given to all be followed.

This Scriptural passage has been my guide in how I practice my religion and faith. It is also part of how I maintain that interreligious dialogue is important to my faith. I see God in the face of others and the love of God as being practiced in the love of others. It really does work that with a true love of God and others it is the way to follow the other commandments. The heart is open and on the right path and all else follows. I heard in the past that during the time of Jesus that Hebrew teaching visualized the mind as being centered where the heart is. There is a profound truth in this vision. The body, mind and spirit are beautifully integrated and intertwined. Jesus tells us here to love God with all our heart, soul and mind. The teaching is holistic. The movement is a giving of self to God in all ways. The scholars asking Jesus these questions were more likely centered only on the mind and the letter of the law.

I pray that today my heart, soul and mind be centered on God and the love of God and others. I pray that my acts and words reflect this deep grounding and that good may flow from whatever I may do in this day as it begins.