Hymnody and Chant

Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, A

Exodus 22: 20-26

Psalm 18

I Thessalonians 1: 5-10

Matthew 22: 34-40 [MYMt #29, “Magister, quod est,” chant]

The readings converge today on the need to love our neighbor.  The First Reading, from the book of Exodus, is taken from a section of the book which gives laws governing social conduct.  The intention of the laws is to produce compassion, and specifically mentions the alien, the widow, the orphan, the poor, and the laborer.  The Responsorial Psalm, with its refrain, “I love You, Lord, my strength!” sings of God’s defense of those who trust in Him.  The Gospel is the encounter between Jesus and a Sadducee.  The Sadducee asked Him, “What is the greatest commandment of the law?”  Jesus creates what we have come to know as the “summary of the law” by connecting Deuteronomy 6:5 with Leviticus 19:18, and concludes, “On these two commandments the whole law is based, and the prophets as well.” 

Talking about this conflation, St. Augustine of Hippo says:  “People are renewed by love.  As sinful desire ages them, so love rejuvenates them.  Enmeshed in the soils of his desires, the psalmist laments, ‘I have grown old surrounded by my enemies.’  Love, on the other hand, is the sign of our renewal, as we know from the Lord’s own words, ‘I give you a new commandment—love one another.’  Love, however was present under the old covenant as well as in the new.  As love grows stronger, we feel more secure, and when our feeling of security is complete, fear vanishes, since, as the apostle John declares, ‘Perfect love casts out fear.’

(Sermo 350a)

We continue our in-course reading of I Thessalonians this week, still immersed in the “thanksgiving” of the letter.  Paul describes his work among them as bringing them from paganism to belief in one God, and then giving them the knowledge of God’s only Son, Jesus Christ.  His comments about being “delivered from the wrath to come” leads us into next week’s reading.

One of the Gospel Canticles at today's Liturgy of the Hours will be sung with the antiphon, "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?"  You can hear the Gregorian melody to this antiphon, sung by the Schola Cantorum of St. Peter's in the Loop on the cd, "Music for the Year of Matthew," published by The Liturgical Press (www.litpress.org)

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