He Shall Live Because Of The Virtue He Has Practiced

“If the sinner turns from his sin, observes MY decrees and practices what is right and just, he will live; he will not die.  None of the sins he committed will be charged against him; he will live, as a consequence of his righteous deeds.  Do I want the death of the sinner? – word of YAHWEH.  Do I not, rather, want him to turn from his ways and live? 

But if the righteous man turns away from what is good, and commits sins as the wicked do, will he live?  His righteous deeds will no longer be credited to him; but he will die, because of his infidelity and his sins. 

But you say: YAHWEH’s way is not just!  Why, Israel!  Is MY position wrong?  Is it not rather that yours is wrong?  If the righteous man turns from his righteous deeds, and sins, then he dies, because of his sins.  And if the wicked man does what is good and right, after turning from the sins he committed, he will save his life.  He will live and not die, because he has opened his eyes; and turned from the sins he had committed.” – Ezekiel 18:21-28 

(Everyone will have time to decide freely.  If people are evil and then decide to do good, GOD will wait for their conversion and will take their last orientation into account.

 

In later times, wise people will note that oftentimes evil people do not receive their punishment, nor good people their reward in this life [Job 21]; it will become obvious to them that GOD’s justice will be achieved in the next life.)
 

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Ask And It Will Be Given To You

“Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened.  For everyone who asks, receives; whoever seeks, finds; and to HIM who knocks, the door will be opened.  Would any of you give a stone to your son, when he asks for bread?  Or give him a snake, when he asks for a fish?  However bad you may be, you know how to give good things to your children.  How much more, then, will your FATHER in heaven give good things to those who ask HIM!

So, do to others whatever you would that others do to you: there, you have the law and the prophets.” – Matthew 7:7-12

(JESUS invites us to ask with faith and perseverance, until GOD assures us that our prayer has been heard or else helps us understand that what we asked for was not good for us, nor was it the will of GOD.)

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Something Greater Than Jonah

“As the crowd increased, JESUS spoke the following words: ‘People of the present time are troubled people.  They ask for a sign, but no sign will be given to them except the sign of Jonah.  As Jonah became a sign for the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be a sign for this generation.  The Queen of the South will rise up on Judgment Day with the people of these times and accuse them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and here, there is greater than Solomon.  The people of Nineveh will rise up on Judgment Day with the people of these times and accuse them, for Jonah’s preaching made them turn from their sins, and here, there is greater than Jonah.” – Luke 11:29-32 

(The Ninevites, being sinners, received no other divine sign than the coming of Jonah, who invited them to repent.  JESUS’ contemporaries believe they are “good” because they belong to the people of GOD, and they do not realize that the hour has come for them to repent as well.

The people of Nineveh will rise up with these people and accuse them.  JESUS again uses the traditional image of collective judgment where each one excuses himself by pointing out that others have done worse.  This image retains a deep truth: all that GOD has given to each one of us should produce fruits for all humanity.)

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MY Word Shall Not Return To ME Void

“As the rain and the snow come down

from the heavens and do not return

till they have watered the earth,

making it yield seed for the sower

and food for others to eat,

so is MY word that goes forth out of MY mouth:

it will not return to ME idle,

but it shall accomplish MY will,

the purpose for which it has been sent.”

- Isaiah 55:10-11

(Here the word of GOD appears personified. It is already much more than the words spoken by the prophets. This word which comes from the FATHER and returns to HIM will be presented by the apostle John in the first page of his Gospel: it is CHRIST.)

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You Shall Love Your Neighbor As Yourself

“YAHWEH spoke to Moses and said, ‘Speak to the entire assembly of the people of Israel and say to them: Be holy for I, YAHWEH, your GOD, AM holy.’

Do not steal or lie or deceive one another.  Do not swear falsely by MY name so as to profane the name of your GOD; I AM YAHWEH.

Do not oppress your neighbor or rob him.  The wages of a hired man are not to remain with you all night until morning.  You shall not curse a deaf man nor put a stumbling block in the way of the blind; but you shall fear your GOD; I AM YAHWEH.

Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor nor bow to the great; you are to judge your neighbor fairly so as not to share in his guilt.  Do not go about as a slanderer of your people and do not seek the death of your neighbor; I AM YAHWEH.

Do not hate your brother in your heart; rebuke your neighbor frankly so as not to share in his guilt.  Do not seek revenge or nurture a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself; I AM YAHWEH.” – Leviticus 19:1-2, 11-18

 

(Among so many laws which show the still primitive level of GOD’s people, we marvel to find some prescriptions that teach deeply human attitudes often lacking in us.

These prescriptions, addressed to a race of small farmers, must be interpreted in order to adapt them to the circumstances of our present lives.

They teach us that the “right of ownership” is not absolute and that it never justifies oppression of the poor, nor does it excuse us from helping them.  We are ordered to care for our brothers and sisters to assure everyone what is necessary to live.

Do not seek revenge… but love your neighbor as yourself.  Here, neighbor means the brother of the same race.  They must be loved and there must be solidarity with them because GOD embraces with the same love all those who belong to HIS people.

Such a solidarity with those of one’s own nation exists in all religions but there is as well the aggression or hostility towards the foreigner.  When JESUS speaks to us of love which does not cease at the frontiers of a people [Luke 10:25; Matthew 5:43], it will not be a simple extension of the term “neighbor”: it will be the discovery of another relation beyond the solidarity practiced naturally by humans as in the case with certain animals.)

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Bring Joy To The Soul Of YOUR Servant!

“Listen, O YAHWEH, and answer me, for I am afflicted and needy.

Preserve my life, for I am GOD-fearing; save YOUR servant who trusts in YOU.

Have mercy on me, O YAHWEH, for I cry to YOU all day.

Bring joy to the soul of YOUR servant; for YOU, O YAHWEH, I lift up my soul.

YOU are good and forgiving, O YAHWEH, caring for those who call on YOU.

Listen, O YAHWEH, to my prayer, hear the voice of my pleading.”

– Psalm 86:1-6

(This is a gentle psalm, a little muted in tone, without cries for help or loud shouts of anguish.  The psalmist, here, is making a sincere and true appeal to GOD to answer his prayer.  There are always enemies about; but GOD is not asked to destroy them [a refreshing change!].  HE is asked only to ‘turn and take pity’ on the persecuted.  The psalmist never stops asking, and he is rightly sure that such a GOD could never stop giving.

Whenever we live moments of anguish, whatever their cause, it will be good for us to confide our burden on another, on GOD, whose presence in this psalm, is comforting.  JESUS tells us in Matthew 11:24: “Whatever you ask for in prayer full of faith, you will receive.”  We have this assurance from JESUS HIMSELF.  So, full of faith, let us also pray to GOD, for whatever we need, assured that it will be answered.)

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Be Merciful, O LORD, For We Have Sinned

“Have mercy on me, O GOD, in YOUR love.

In YOUR great compassion blot out my sin.

Wash me thoroughly of my guilt;

cleanse me of evil.

For I acknowledge my wrongdoings

and have my sins ever in mind.

Against YOU alone, have I sinned;

what is evil in YOUR sight, I have done.

  

YOU are right when YOU pass sentence;

and blameless, in YOUR judgment.

For I have been guilt-ridden from birth;

a sinner from my mother’s womb.

I know YOU desire truth in the heart;

teach me wisdom in my inmost being.

Cleanse me, with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

wash me, I shall be whiter than snow.

Fill me with joy and gladness;

let the bones YOU have crushed rejoice.

Turn YOUR face away from my sins

and blot out all my offenses.

Create in me, O GOD, a pure heart;

give me a new and steadfast spirit.

Do not cast me out of your presence

nor take YOUR holy spirit from me.

Give me again, the joy of YOUR salvation;

and sustain me, with a willing spirit.

Then I will show wrongdoers YOUR ways

and sinners will return to YOU.

Deliver me, O GOD, from the guilt of blood;

and of YOUR justice, I shall sing aloud.

O YAHWEH, open my lips,

and I will declare YOUR praise.”

- Psalm 51:3-17

(This is the finest of the ‘penitential psalms.’  Man stands guilty and unafraid before GOD.  Indeed, he sees his guilt, as a reason for mercy and an excuse for hope.  A deep sense of sin is already a step toward the sanctity of GOD.  It opens the door for HIS eager mercy.  But OUR LORD takes us even further than the psalmist.  HE teaches us to cry not ‘GOD!’ but ‘FATHER!’  HE bids us think of that father, who ran to meet the son who had left him, the father who took the son in his arms and kissed him: ‘My son was lost and is found’ [Luke 15:24].  Our trust in the FATHER’s forgiveness generously given should exceed that of the psalmist.

It is good to pray with this psalm, when we feel overwhelmed by our guilt, be it against GOD or against our brothers and sisters, and we seek the goodness of GOD, who justifies us.

When we receive the sacrament of reconciliation, we meet JESUS HIMSELF, the Savior who intercedes, and the FATHER who pardons.  Each of our confessions is a joyful celebration of GOD’s mercy and a source of renewal.)

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The Fast That Pleases ME

“See the fast that pleases me:

breaking the fetters of injustice

and unfastening the thongs of the yoke,

setting the oppressed free

and breaking every yoke.

Fast by sharing your food with the hungry,

bring to your house the homeless,

clothe the one you see naked

and do not turn away from your own kin.”

– Isaiah 58:6-7

(Unfastening the thongs of the yoke.  Here we have a glimpse of the tremendous effort demanded of all in order to do away with every form of slavery: from the small privileges that working companions compete for, to the laws that keep entire groups marginated.  It includes breaking the yoke of husbands’ domination over their wives and the disputes between neighbours when no one dares to take the first step.

It is not enough to be converted to GOD “from the heart,” for conversion comes about by changing both persons and structures.  These make us share in the injustices and sins of the society in which we live.  An incredible of sins – corruption, prostitution, violence – are linked to colonialism and the economic and cultural dependence that go with it.

Sharing your food with the hungry: and that on a world scale for humankind is one, the only Adam of whom CHRIST is the head.)

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Choose Life

Hello! and happy good Thursday to all of us, GUYS.  Our "food for the soul" today:

THE GOOD NEWS (02 March 2017)

"See, I set before you on this day life and good, evil and death.  I command you to love YAHWEH, your GOD and follow HIS ways.  Observe HIS commandments, HIS norms and HIS laws, and you will live and increase, and YAHWEH will give you HIS blessing in the land you are going to possess.  But if your heart turns away and does not listen, if you are drawn away and bow before other gods to serve them, I declare on this day that you shall perish.  You shall not last in the land you are going to occupy on the other side of the Jordan.

Let the heavens and the earth listen, that they may be witnesses against you.  I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse.  Therefore, choose life that you and your descendants may live, loving YAHWEH, listening to HIS voice, and being one with HIM.  In this is life for you and length of days in the land which YAHWEH swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." - Deuteronomy 30:15-20

(This text about the two ways is very famous, reminding us of the importance of our free decisions and GOD's respect for human freedom [see also Sirach 15:11].

Throughout Deuteronomy faithfulness to GOD is spoken of together with the remembrance of HIS promises and rewards here on earth.  This should not surprise us.  In those distant times the people of GOD had no understanding of another life nor of the resurrection and the vision of GOD after death.  They only focused on the present life and their national destiny which, in their view, were more important than the destiny of the individual.  For them, GOD's justice had to be seen on earth in the present.

Later, the Gospel will not promise lands or houses, except in a figurative way [Mark 10:28].  Prosperity will not be mentioned except for the final day when GOD will create the world anew [Acts 3:21 and Revelation 21:3].) 

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Return To ME

Hello! and holy Ash Wednesday to all of us, GUYS.  Our "food for the soul" today:

THE GOOD NEWS (01 March 2017)

"YAHWEH says, 'Yet even now, return to ME with your whole heart; with fasting, weeping and mourning.  Rend your heart, not your garment.  Return to YAHWEH, your GOD - gracious and compassionate.'

YAHWEH is slow to anger, full of kindness, and HE repents of having punished.

Who knows?  Probably HE will relent once more, and spare some parts of the harvest, from which we may bring sacred offerings to YAHWEH, your GOD.

Blow the trumpet in Zion, proclaim a sacred fast, call a solemn assembly.

Gather the people, sanctify the community, bring together the elders, even the children and infants at the breast.  Let the bridegroom leave his bed, and the bride her room.

Between the vestibule and the altar, let the priests, YAHWEH's ministers, weep and say: Spare your people, YAHWEH.  Do not humble them or make them an object of scorn among the nations.  Why should it be said among the people: Where is their GOD?

YAHWEH has become jealous for HIS land; HE has had pity on HIS people. - Joel 2:12-18 

(Return to ME with your whole heart: an invitation to penance.  In times of hardship, public feasts were proclaimed in Israel.  People would wear mourning clothes, or they would replace their clothes with sackcloth, or they would not comb their hair and cover their faces with ashes.  In the Gospel, JESUS will not say that these signs of physical penance, like fasting to express sorrow  and to accompany prayer, are useless [see Matthew 4:1 and Mark 2:20], but will make it clear that these external signs of penance are not everything, nor are they what is most important.)

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