This day, YHWH your God commands you to observe these laws and the regulations; you are to take-care and observe them with all your heart and with all your being. YHWH you have declared today, to be for you a god, to walk in his ways and to keep his laws, his commandments and his regulations, and to hearken to his voice.
And YHWH has declared you today to be for him a specially-treasured people, as he promised you, to be-careful (regarding) all his commandments, and to set you most-high above all the nations that he has made, for praise, for fame, and for honor, for you are to be a people holy to YHWH your God, as he promised. (translation by Everett Fox)
When I read Deuteronomy aloud I sometimes use Everett Fox's translation. The Jewish scholar has attempted to present the text in English with the sound and cadences of the original Hebrew, and the poet in me hears God's diction in this version. He renders the name of God, the Tetragrammaton, with four letters of our Latin alphabet but I say "the Lord" out of respect for the Jews and their piety. They do not speak the Name. (I've also used a "Noto Serif Hebrew" font.)
Professor Fox wants to convey the immediacy of God's word, which is especially evident in this reading as we hear "this day" and "today" several times. Although the setting is Moses' sermon to our ancestors in the desert, we should hear the LORD's ever-ancient, ever-new command to us today, on this Saturday in Lent of 2023.
Catholic piety urges us to begin each day with a morning offering as every day is another chance to get it right. We thank God for the refreshment of a good night's sleep, the promise of springtime, and the renewal of the Paschal Season. As the Lord has died and been raised up, so we repent and are restored to grace by God's mercy.
And we start by hearing the prophet Moses declare, "...you are to take-care and observe them with all your heart and with all your being."
Lent insists that we are Catholics first, and then members of a family, employees and Americans. If the Word of God makes a difference in our world it's because we are different. Failing that mission, we're no better than salt which has lost its saltiness. We should only be thrown out and trampled underfoot. (There is apocalyptic judgment in that simile!) Or we might be left in the desert to perish with that generation that disobeyed the Lord's command.
The practices of Lent remind us daily that God's word is serious. It is a matter of life and death. Our contemporaries believe their freedom is found in many options and choices. They choose what to eat and where to shop and whether to terminate a pregnancy, and consider themselves free. But, driven by fear, urged by desire, hoping only to satisfy their aspirations, they cannot see an end or purpose of life.
We are called to give Glory to God every day, every morning, as we faithfully observe our religion, these laws and regulations. We walk always with an awareness of the LORD who goes with us. He does not abandon his people even when he lets us suffer the wrath of those who despise him, or the consequences of our sins.
Lent reminds us that this is not the promised land. We're like the homesick soldier in 1943 who "will be home for Christmas if only in my dreams." We are near salvation only in our prayers, fasting, and almsgiving; for the LORD has
"...set you most-high above all the nations that he has made, for praise, for fame, and for honor, for you are to be a people holy to YHWH your God, as he promised."
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.