Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2005 Fast Day
Martyr Pamphilos, Priest of Caesarea in Palestine
Kellia: 1 Kings (1 Samuel) 8:1-22 Epistle: 1 Peter 4:1-11 Gospel: St. Mark 12:28-37
First of All Commandments: 28-37, especially vss. 29, 30: "Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD
is one. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your
strength." The Lord Jesus once answered a scribe (Mk. 12:28) by reciting the "Shema," the six words of Deuteronomy
6:4, following it with Deut. 6:5, and adding the Divine Commandment from Leviticus 19:18, as being "like it" (Mk. 12:31).
The scribe appreciated the Lord's answer: "Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there
is no other but He. And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the
strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices" (vss. 32,33).
The Rabbis point out that the six words of the "Shema" are "the best-known words in Judaism's liturgy, the 'watchword' of
Israel's faith." The name, "Shema," is a transliteration of the Hebrew word, "Hear," from the six words. Jews see the
principles in this command "as rays shining forth from the 'Shema,' as from a diamond set into a crown of faith and proven
true and enduring in human history." Christ calls it "the first of all the commandments"(vs. 29), so let us turn our attention
to it as to sacred truth which must be considered and lived.
Seeing that this "first of all the commandments" enjoins upon us the task "to go forward to the perfection of love and to
learn to know Him Who is truly beloved," St. Basil the Great warns us that "it is not the privilege of any chance person" to
attain this goal, but belongs only to "him who has already 'put off the old man, which is being corrupted through its
deceptive lusts, and has put on the new man' (Eph. 4:22), which is being renewed that it may be recognized as an image of
the Creator." The "Shema" is not theory, but a practice to live.
Let us understand that we committed ourselves to this work of "learning to know Him Who is truly beloved" when we
chose to be "buried with [the Lord Jesus] through Baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the
glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life" (Rom. 6:4). God has been very frank with us: He is
ready to transform all who are Baptized into the Mystery of Christ and offers to each the opportunity to "be a partaker of
[His] Resurrection" so long as each one preserves "the gift of Thy Holy Spirit," and increases "the measure of grace
committed unto him." Such "is not the privilege of any chance person," but of those who take the Lord's yoke upon
themselves to labor (Mt. 11:29).
St. Basil emphasizes this same truth but with the caution that "as much love as you shall have squandered on lower objects,
that much will necessarily be lacking to you from the whole." In other words, "he who loves money and is aroused by the
corruptible beauty of the body and esteems exceedingly this little glory here, since he has expended the power of loving on
what is not proper, he is quite blind in regard to the contemplation of Him Who is truly beloved." The Lord insists that we
"shall love [Him] with all [our] heart, with all [our] soul, with all [our] mind, and with all [our] strength" (Mk. 12:30; Deut.
6:5).
Fickle as we are, how can we possibly do this? We cannot love when ordered to do so. St. Basil understands this and
encourages us: "we did not learn to love God as a result of outside instruction. In the very nature of every human being has
been sown the seed of the ability to love. You and I ought to welcome this seed, cultivate it carefully, nourish it attentively,
and foster its growth by going to the school of God's commandments with the help of His grace."
May my prayer draw near to Thee, O Lord. Grant me Thy holy seed, that I might bring Thee a harvest of sheaves
abundant in good fruits and say, "Glory to Thee Who givest me life."