We have just
repeated these words as a response to the first reading. It is made up of the
first part of verse 11 (I am the Lord your God) and the first part of verse 9
(Listen to my warning).
To tell you the
truth, I got stuck when reflecting on this response, for I had two different
versions of it, the one we repeated and another which I have in my text which
says: “I am the Lord your God: hear my voice”. I started searching the
different translations of the Psalms and I found a third version which says: “Hear,
O my people, while I admonish you; O Israel, if you would but listen to me!” (NRSVCE)
Does it matter
that much which translation we use? Maybe, but as we are not in a Bible class,
I will only say that to me the version I have is somewhat soft: it says “hear
my voice”. The one we used today seems harsh for it points to a warning. Is God
angry? And what is the warning? A dictionary tells me that to warn is “To make
aware in advance of some actual or potential harm, danger, or evil”. So, what
is the warning? “I am God and there is no other!” Why does He say this? Because
God knows how easy it is for us to turn our back on Him and fabricate gods in
our image and likeness. So he tries to make us aware that, all through human
history, when people create gods for themselves or make themselves gods, they cause
so much trouble, suffering and death. And humans do not learn and they keep
abandoning God in their desire “to be like god”, not the true living God but
what they imagine to be god is like! Old Adam and Eve are still among us as
many still follow their dream!
I like the third
version better because, to me it shows God’s eagerness for us to accept that He
is our God and that there is no other. The ones people create are dead gods, not
gods at all, and they serve death and not life.
Why is God so
eager that we follow Him, that we listen to his Word (with a capital W), as He
said during the transfiguration: “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am
well pleased; listen to him!” It is the same reason that provoked the mystery
of the Incarnation: Love, pure love alone!
Allow me to quote
extensively from The Dialogue of Divine Providence.
Catherine of
Siena spoke to the Father and said: "Oh, inestimable Charity, sweet above
all sweetness! Who would not be inflamed by such great love? What heart can
help breaking at such tenderness? It seems, oh, Abyss of Charity, as if you were MAD WITH LOVE OF YOUR
CREATURE, as if You could not live without him, and yet You are our God who
have no need of us, Your greatness does not increase through our good, for You
are unchangeable, and our evil causes You no harm, for You are the Supreme and
Eternal Goodness. What moves You to do us such mercy through pure love, and on
account of no debt that You owed us, or need that You had of us? We are rather
Your guilty and malignant debtors. Wherefore, if I understand aright, Oh,
Supreme and Eternal Truth, I am the thief and You have been punished for me.
For I see Your Word, Your Son, fastened and nailed to the Cross, of which You
have made me a Bridge, as You have shown me, Your miserable servant, for which
reason, my heart is bursting, and yet cannot burst, through the hunger and the
desire which it has conceived towards You."
… “with Your
Mercy You temper Justice. By Mercy You have washed us in the Blood, and by
Mercy You wish to converse with Your creatures. Oh, LOVING MADMAN! [O pazzo
d’amore] was it not enough for You to become Incarnate, that You must also die?
Was not death enough, that You must also descend into Limbo, taking thence the
holy fathers to fulfil Your Mercy and Your Truth in them? Because Your goodness
promises a reward to them that serve You in truth, You descended to Limbo, to
withdraw from their pain Your servants, and give them the fruit of their
labours. Your Mercy constrains You to give even more to man, namely, to leave
Yourself to him in food, so that we, weak ones, should have comfort, and the
ignorant commemorating You, should not lose the memory of Your benefits.
Wherefore every day You give Yourself to man, representing Yourself in the
Sacrament of the Altar, in the body of Your Holy Church. What has done this?
Your Mercy. Oh, Divine Mercy! My heart suffocates in thinking of you, for on
every side to which I turn my thought, I find nothing but mercy. Oh, Eternal
Father! Forgive my ignorance, that I presume thus to chatter to You, but the
love of Your Mercy will be my excuse before the Face of Your
loving-kindness."
I have no more
words. I will only repeat God’s call through Isaiah (45, 22): “Turn to me and
be saved, all the ends of the earth!” and from the Book of Proverbs: “Trust in
the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your
ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. (Prov 3:5-6). As
Jeremiah said: “Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the
Lord”. (Jer 17:7)
Delivered on March
13, 2015 - Friday of the Third Week of
Lent (Readings Hos 14:2-10 and Mk 12:28-34)
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