Thirty-First Sunday In Ordinary Time, B: Shema

This is the most Jewish and Catholic prayer possible, in our Gospel today, from Mark 12:29, which Jews call the Shema, which means “hear” in Hebrew-- we have the first line of the Shema in our Gospel today:

“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.”

This is not a prayer of petition to God, nor is it a prayer of praise and thanksgiving, it is more like a creed- a statement of faith, with instructions for living, which Jews pray twice a day.

Prostrating oneself in prayer helps me to mean all the words of this creed, with all its intensity and wide scope. Prostrating is the gesture used by those being ordained deacons or priests, and at Good Friday, but it can be used for private prayer by anyone to symbolizes one’s submission to God.

Consider that Mark 12:34, says, “And no one dared to ask him any more questions,” which is a common way of showing the superior wisdom and/or charismatic power of the speaker

(Mark 3:4, 4:39, 9:34). Silence can also mean religious awe. E.g., such silence was spoken of by an ancient rabbi with the recitation of the Shema of Mark 12:29-30, “When Israel says, ‘Hear, O Israel’, the angels are silent and drop their wings.”1

It does matter which direction one faces. When Jews pray, they are supposed to face Jerusalem. Jews in this country face East, because Israel is to our East. However, Jews in Australia would face West; and Jews in South Africa face North. A rabbi even said that Jews in space would face “down” towards Earth and Jerusalem!2

At Mass, Catholics traditionally face East or “ad orientem” when praying. Jesus Christ will return to us from the Eastern skies. This means the eastward facing of the people, clergy, priest, altar and cross in a single, telescopic, cosmological ordering.3 If you are praying alone, you can use your mobile phone’s compass to pray facing east.

As noted, there is nothing inherently “Jewish or Muslim" about praying prostrate on the floor because Catholics see it done twice yearly and you can always pray that way in private. St. Dominic had ten postures of praying and one was: Face down: St. Dominic would lie face down on the floor with his arms outstretched.4

What to ponder as you pray the Shema:

Pray for your healing. Rabbi Nehorai said: The recital of (the whole) Shema contains 248 words corresponding to 248 limbs in a person’s body. One who recites Shema as required—each and every one of his limbs takes a word for itself and is healed by it. This is the meaning of “healing to your body, and strength to your bones”! [Proverbs3:8] Rabbi Nehorai explained that the reading of the Shema can therefore serve as a supernatural cure for the body. In his words: “Each and every one of his limbs takes a word for itself and is healed by it.”5

To get this healing, those called to hear the Shema may then assert no fraction. In fractioning God, you fraction yourself. In compartmentalizing God, you compartmentalize yourself. God wants all of you. This is stated four times over: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.6

Notice that the Nicene Creed begins with the Shema's One: I believe in one God, the Father Almighty. Hear O Israel, the Lord (1. there is a God); 2). Our God 3). The Lord is One. In effect, the Rabbis turned the recitation of the sh’ma into a formal speech- act by which the individual takes upon himself “the yoke of the Kingship of God” and commits himself to observe the commandments.7

Love requires spending time together. To put God FIRST is to intentionally prioritize our focus on this one thing each day. Long before your wife or husband chose you, God did. Your marriage and all vocations depend upon God for fruitfulness.

One God means no idols. All your strength- do you let your imagination run wild? The “heart” is not the ear, but the heart is the prime organ of “hearing,” and becomes the seat of storing the words commanded by Yhwh. This signifies an openness and willingness to devote one’s “heart” to the lover, never calculating how many commands should be kept. This compelling force demands one’s soul, one’s life, one’s all. Therefore, this relational language involving a total response of human love creates an enduring theological horizon of the Shema: interpreters seek to interpret the text to order to increase their growth in love of God with an obedient heart. 8