The Arrow's Path

                Today’s readings all center around the great command that God gives to the Israelites through Moses, which is recounted today in the reading from Deuteronomy . This final book of the Torah is a collection of Moses’ great sermons near the end of his life where he recounts the great deeds God has done for His people and reiterates the Law and the 10 Commandments that came to them on Mount Sinai. The command that is given today is known in Judaism as the Great Shema , which is the word in Hebrew meaning “to hear.” The Shema has a very central place in theology and daily prayer practice of Jews to this day.    The actual words of the command are notoriously hard to translate into English because written Hebrew omits the verbs. The actual words in the command in the original text in Hebrew is only four words. This can be translated any number of ways. The traditional Jewish translation is “The Lord your God, the Lord is one.” The command can also be translated in various

                  An enigma is defined by Webster’s Dictionary as a mysterious person, event, or thing that is difficult to understand or explain. The Bible readings today are full of themes and images that at first glance appear to be enigmatic. These readings, however, ultimately point to a greater theological truth about God.                  In the Old Testament reading, the Prophet Jeremiah was often an enigma that the people around him rarely understood. He often came off as gloomy and usually had messages that few people wanted to hear. God was constantly having Jeremiah preach repentance or face the dire consequences of Divine judgment. This was a message that made Jeremiah extremely unpopular. Jeremiah’s words today were preached in the immediate aftermath of God’s judgment that came in the form of military destruction at the hands of a hostile foreign army. Instead of gloating, however, Jeremiah almost inexplicably changes tones and offers beautifully pastoral words of comf

       Servant Leadership became a popular business model in the corporate world some years ago. There are even renowned business schools that offer advanced degrees in the philosophy supposedly grounded in the concept that the goal of the leader is to serve. The modern concept seems to have originated with a secular essay by Robert K. Greenleaf in 1970, but government officials and even some monarchs have fancied themselves as public servants for centuries. Christians going back to the 1st Century have long understood this idea because Jesus introduced the very concept of servant leadership to everyday human endeavor by His very words and actions.           The problem with the secular philosophy of servant leadership is the fact that servants are often treated very poorly. While the idea sounds very good and selfless on the surface and might even make for great public relations slogans, very few people respond well when they actually get treated like servants. This idea is at the

     Presumption can often lead people into very dangerous or sticky situations. Humans have a capacity to convince ourselves that as long as we can do the bare minimums and master the basics, we have accumulated a sufficient amount of knowledge to be in control of all situations that can arise in a given context. Sadly, this sense of control is quite often illusory when serious problems arise. The Bible readings for Mass today remind us that this presumption of mastering the bare minimums is especially ineffective with it comes to love because love simply cannot operate effectively in that way.      The Old Testament reading from the Book of Wisdom is speaking metaphorically about the love of Divine wisdom. The wisdom that God gives is something so precious that this book personifies it, much in the same way as Time is personified as an old man at New Year’s Eve parties or the statue of a blindfolded Lady Justice is found on a courthouse lawn. Divine Wisdom must be loved and acc