Spock, the Priestly Blessing, and our Catholic Sacraments

“Put/Shemo My name/Shemi upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them.” This passage relates to leadership, first to the leadership of the Cohen/official, and then to the specific official we call the priest. When Leonard Nimoy felt the need to come up with the Vulcan Salute, he fell back on his Jewish heritage. The Vulcan Salute is the Hebrew Shin, and it stands for “El Shaddai,” or God of the Lump, as in mountain, “God of the Heights.” “When they put my name on them when I brand them with my name.” It also stands for Shalom/Tranquility, and for Shekinah, the Holy Spirit who comes with the Priestly Blessing. The picture of Leonard Nimoy links to the video.

Those also who fell asleep received the seal of the Son of God. “Before a man bears the name of the Son of God he is dead, but when he receives the seal he lays aside his deadness, and obtains life. The seal, then, is the water: they descend into the water dead, and they arise alive. And to them, accordingly, was this seal preached, and they made use of it that they might enter into the kingdom of God.”[1] Shepherd of Hermes: Similitudes 9: Chapter 16 The seal is about life, not rules.

Ἀνάγκην, φησίν, εἶχον δι’ ὕδατος ἀναβῆναι, ἵνα ζωοποιηθῶσιν· οὐκ ἠδύνατο γὰρ ἄλλως εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ, εἰ μὴ τὴν νέκρωσιν ἀπέθεντο τῆς ζωῆς αὐτῶν τῆς προτέρας. ἔλαβον οὖν καὶ οὗτοι οἱ κεκοιμημένοι τὴν σφραγῖδα τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ εἰσῆλθον εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ· Similitudes 9:Chapter 16.

τὴν σφραγῖδα is a stamp like the Roman military used to brand its troops.

“Now inquiry is made about this point, whether a believer may turn   himself unto military service, and whether the military may be admitted   unto the faith, even the rank and file, or each inferior grade, to whom   there is no necessity for taking part in sacrifices or capital   punishments. There is no agreement between the divine and the human   sacrament,  the standard of Christ and the standard of the devil,  the camp of light and the camp of darkness. One soul cannot be due to two masters–God and Cæsar.”Tertullian: On Idolatry: Chapter 19, On Military Service.

On the subject of the sacrament, which he receives…the signs of divine things are things visible, but that the invisible things themselves are also honored in them.[2] On Catechizing the Uninstructed: Chapter 26

“God the Father sealed Him.” What is to seal, but to put some particular mark? To seal is to impress some mark, not confounded with the rest. To seal is to put a mark on a thing. When you put a mark on anything, you do so lest it might be confused with other things, and you should not be able to recognize it.[3] Lectures on the Gospel of S. John Lecture 25 Chapter 11.

In Numbers 6, the stamp, the τὴν σφραγῖδα, is the name of God and the Cohen places it on the people with a blessing. The sacramental sign, the sacramental seal, is a blessing. Read the first part of Numbers 6.

“When either man or woman shall clearly utter a vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to consecrate himself unto the NAME, he shall abstain from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar of wine or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat fresh grapes or dried…. All the days of his being a Nazarene dedicated he is to the NAME… this is the law of the Nazarene. When the days of his consecration are fulfilled…: he shall present his offering unto the NAME, one he-lamb… for a burnt-offering, and one ewe-lamb… for a sin-offering, and one ram without blemish for peace offerings.”

At the end of being a Nazarene, the person brings a sin offering. What is his sin, if he did it all according to the program? A Jewish source points out how the key phrase is that the man or the woman utters the vow. Leviticus 10 tells the story of Nadab and Abihu who offered sacrifices not commanded. “Nadab” means to offer willingly. “Abihu” means “He is my Father.” They are not trying to rebel, but are overzealous in their giving.

In the story of Adam and Eve we read God’s command, “The NAME God gave the man this order: You are free to eat from any of the trees of the garden except the tree of knowledge of what is satisfying and what is rotten.” Eve tells the snake of the command. “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; it is only about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, ‘you shall not eat it or even touch it, or else you will die.’”

Notice the addition about touching. There is a Midrash to the effect that the snake grabbed Eve and pushed her into the tree. “There, now you have touched it.” God knows our limits. He does not give commands that surpass them. When we try to surpass them, we become bitter and when we become bitter as leaders, we treat our charges bitterly. God’s way is toward life and blessing. Our baptism, our mark is to be toward life and blessing, not rules and rot. The sin of the Nazarene is that he goes beyond what God requires; he is more pious than God desires him to be. God is the God of Life, not of rules. He wants each of us to live. God wants us to be better leaders, not bitter ones.

As a point of reference, Spock was the Star Trek peacenik. When we are joy-filled, we are peaceful people. When we are bitter, we sub-consciously try to resolve the conflict, and that means hurting other people. Jerusalem means, “City of Peace.” “David,” means “Beloved.” If we are going to live in the city of peace, we must be beloved, like David, and Jesus. The star translates, “I am to my beloved/David and David/my beloved is to me.” Shin refers to peace, the peace of completion. Shalom translates as completion, and therefore, as peace. We truly are only complete when we are happy, not bitter, when we are at peace with ourselves.

Read the Gospel for this Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God. “Joseph also went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his Kiddushin, who was with child.” The proper translation of the Hebrew for “Kiddushin,” is married. As presented in recent blogs, Jewish marriage has two stages, Kiddushin, and Nassau. The only difference is that in Nassau marriage, the bride has moved in with the groom and has conjugal rights.

 

The purpose for this rule, as the rabbis relate, is to focus upon what Catholics refer to as S.P.I.C.E. Spiritually sharing of life between bride and groom through praying together and meditation. It included Physical closeness with plenty of hugs, kisses, holding hands, snuggling, and such. It also included Intellectual stimulations, the need to bounce ideas off one another. It included the need to be Communicative/Creative, and to Express feelings, desires, and joke together.

Marriage is a sacrament having invisible and visible parts. The invisible part is that it reflects the divine dance of the three persons of the Trinity as they with each other, and indwell in us. Leonard Nimoy correctly pointed out how in our First Reading, when the Cohen ends the blessing, the Shekinah, the Holy Spirit comes and dwells among us. He does so through S.P.I.C.E. This means having fun, living life to its fullest, John 10:10.

St. Paul relates this in our Second Reading, “We receive adoption as sons. As proof that you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” So you are a son and if a son then an heir, through God.” We are not servants to be hired and fired, tormented and let go. We are fellow children who have to live with each other for the rest of our lives, eternity. Mary does not keep these things in her head. “She kept these things in her heart,” as our Gospel, tells us.

Luke has the shepherds find Jesus. John 10 is about the Good Shepherd. Shepherds are the leaders of the community. “Pastor” is a fancy German word for a Shepherd. Shepherds/ Pastors went in haste to Bethlehem Beth Lechem/House of Bread, which is in the land of Judah/ Thanksgiving/Eucharist and found Mary/Aramaic for Leader and Joseph, Hebrew for Heal, and the infant lying in the manger/a feeding trough. When they saw this, they made known the message told them about this child. All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds.

The invisible aspect of this sacrament is that we find Jesus in a feeding trough, in the house of bread, in the Eucharist. Shepherds, humble people, find him. Future readings this month will focus on how dark things are. They are dark. We did just elect a sadistic, woman and minority hater who wants to go against God’s will by cutting services for the poor, supporting a nuclear war and building a wall to keep minorities out of our land of immigrants.

Leonard Nimoy makes an interesting comment in the above video when he says that everyone would cover their eyes during the Priestly Blessing. He says the Shekinah comes then, and if we see the Shekinah, the Shekinah could blind us or even kill us. The Priestly Blessing is done every morning in Jerusalem, and this may have been so in the first century. With this read about Pentecost. “When the time for Pentecost (Service) was fulfilled, they were all in one place together.” Acts 2:1 “Others said, scoffing, “They have had too much new wine.” Acts 2:13 “These people are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning.” Acts 2:15 “Birkat Kohanim is a throwback to the priestly Temple service. A Kohen who had imbibed even a small quantity of an intoxicating beverage was barred from performing any Temple service until the drink’s effects had worn off.” The listing of the time of day tells us not only what the time of day it was, but also why it is important that no alcohol was involved. It also tells us that Kirkat Kohanim was part  of the service and what the people were doing before this event.

This also relates to the importance of our Mass. Shekinah, the Presence of God comes in the Eucharist. It is not to be taken lightly.

Our readings are for the leadership. He will tell us, “See, darkness covers the earth, and thick clouds cover the peoples.” We must see this if we are going to be effective leaders, but in the midst of all of this doom and gloom, he will also tell us, “Upon you the NAME shines and over you appears his weight. Nations shall walk by your light, and kings by your shining radiance. Raise your eyes and look about; they all gather and come to you: your sons come from afar, and your daughters in the arms of their nurses.”

This is the Semitic you. “The NAME, our God, cut a Brit with us at Horeb; not with our Fathers did the NAME cut this Brit, but with us, all of us, alive here, this day.” Deuteronomy 5. The Semitic “You,” in this passage is not the audience who originally read this passage, but you, the reader, alive, here, today.

The Cohen/official is not someone who died two plus millennia ago. Times are dark and gloomy. “Upon you, the NAME shines and over you appears his weight. Nations shall walk by your light, and kings by your shining radiance. Raise your eyes and look about; they all gather and come to you.” The sacrament calls us to be happy people with happy leaders. We complain about how our nation has a lack of leaders. In our recent election, we did, in fact, elect a distorted cross between Nero and Caligula. There is plenty of room for doom and gloom. There is a leader in every home. The secret is not in being pious or overly devout. The secret is in being family. If you cannot find the leader in your home, you are it, bless the people! Help bring Shekinah! Remember, Christianity beat Nero and Caligula once. It took 300 years, but we accomplished the task, starting with one man who realized he was the leader in his home, the small outcast village of Nazareth. The message of Advent is not doom and gloom, but hope for the future. We beat him once; we can beat him again. Live long and prosper.

[1] Schaff, Philip. Ante-Nicene Fathers Volume 2 – Enhanced Version (Early Church Fathers) (Kindle Locations 2529-2532). Christian Classics Ethereal Library. Kindle Edition.

[2] Augustine, Saint. The Complete Works of Saint Augustine: The Confessions, On Grace and Free Will, The City of God, On Christian Doctrine, Expositions on the Book Of Psalms, … (50 Books With Active Table of Contents) (Kindle Locations 137465-137466).  . Kindle Edition.

[3] Augustine, Saint. The Complete Works of Saint Augustine: The Confessions, On Grace and Free Will, The City of God, On Christian Doctrine, Expositions on the Book Of Psalms, … (50 Books With Active Table of Contents) (Kindle Locations 121637-121640).  . Kindle Edition.

Mass For Christmas Day, the Lamb and the Word of God

בְּרֵאשִׁית הָיָה הַאמֶר  וְהַאמֶר הָיָה אֶת־הָאֱלֹהִים וְהוּא הַ הַאמֶר הָיָה אֱלֹהִים בּוֹ נִמְצָא חַיִּים וְהַחַיִּים הֵם אוֹר הָאָדָם

So begins the Gospel of John. “In the beginning was the Omer. The Omer is with God. God is the Omer.” The current theory is that John was a Samaritan. He wrote in Greek, but he probably thought in Aramaic, sister tongue to Hebrew. It is like comparing French and Spanish. It is possible for a Spanish speaker to sit down and read French. The Spanish speaker, if he chooses to, can fill in the blanks where the two languages differ.  Semitic languages like Aramaic, Arabic, and Hebrew do not properly speaking have past tenses. Everything is either perfect or imperfect in present time. “Omer” means two things in Hebrew. First, it means “Word.” Second, it means “Lamb.”

וַיְהִי מִמָּחֳרָת וַיַּרְא אֶת־יֵשׁוּעַ בָּא אֵלָיו וַיֹּאמַר הִנֵּה אמֶר הָאֱלֹהִים הַנֹּשֵׂא אֶת־חַטַּאת הָעוֹלָם

In the morning he saw Joshua/Jesus coming to him and he said/Omer, ‘Look, the Omer/Word/Lamb of God coming to take away the mistakes of the cosmos.

הוּא הָיָה מֵרֹאשׁ אֶת־הָאֱלֹהִים

“He was from the head (of things) with God.” John tells us that the Omer/Word/Lamb of God, Jesus is part of the Godhead.

כָּל־הַמַּעֲשִׂים נִהְיוּ עַל־יָדוֹ וְאֵין דָּבָר אֲשֶׁר נַעֲשָׂה מִבַּלְעָדָיו

All of what God made is upon his hand and there is not a Deborah/synonym of Omer, which he did not make without him.

בּוֹ נִמְצָא חַיִּים וְהַחַיִּים הֵם אוֹר הָאָדָם

In him is life and the life is the Oar/Omer without the “M,” of man. The letter “M” stands for water in Hebrew. The ancient letter was a line commemorating the shore, with a “W” on top to represent waves.

הוּא אוֹר אֱמֶת אֲשֶׁר בָּא לָעוֹלָם לְהָאִיר לְכָל־אָדָם

Hebrew has a construct case and uses the same word for faith as it uses for truth. “He is the light of faith which comes into the cosmos to witness to the light to all men.” Another perfectly proper translation is, “He is the true light…”

הוּא הָיָה בָעוֹלָם וְהָעוֹלָם נִהְיָה עַל־יָדוֹ וְהָעוֹלָם אֹתוֹ לֹא יָדָע

He is in the cosmos and the cosmos is upon his hand/Yad through him. The cosmos did not Yad/Judah/know.

וְאֵלֶּה אֲשֶׁר הֶחֱזִיקוּ־בוֹ נָתַן־כֹּחַ בְּיָדָם לִהְיוֹת בָּנִים לֵאלֹהִים הֲלֹא הֵם הַמַּאֲמִינִים בִּשְׁמו

To those who received him he gave the power in their hands to be sons of God. That is to those who Amen in his name.

אֲשֶׁר לֵדָתָם לֹא מִדָּם וְלֹא מִתַּאֲוַת בָּשָׂר וְלֹא מֵרוּחַ גָּבֶר כִּי אִם־מֵאֱלֹהִים

Which were born, not from blood, and not from the flesh/Bashar, and not from the Ruach/Spirit of man/Gabor/(Gabriel means strength of God)ֹ but with God.

וְהַאמֶר לָבַשׁ בָּשָׂר וַיִּשְׁכֹּן בְּתוֹכֵנוּ

Medium rare staek, do you eat steak witht the blood still in it?

The Omer/Lamb/Word dressed in flesh/Bashar and Shekinah/indwells among us. Shekinah is the Hebrew word for the Holy Spirit.

תְּחִלַּת בְּשׂוֹרַת יֵשׁוּעַ הַמָּשִׁיחַ בֶּן־הָאֱלֹהִים Mark 1:1

This is the beginning of the Bashar/Gospel of Joshua/Jesus, Messiah, and Son of God.

כִּי הַתּוֹרָה נְתוּנָה בְּיַד־מֹשֶׁה וְחֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת מִמְּקוֹר יֵשׁוּעַ הַמָּשִׁיח יָצָאו

Since the Torahּ came in the hand of Moses. Chesed/grace/kindness and Amen/faith/truth comes out from the interior of the womb of Jesus Messiah.

The lamb/the one sacrificing himself is the word. He is the flesh and the Good News. He is the Omer who is the Oar. The missing letter, “M” calls to mind our baptism in the water. He is the light who is the life/Chiam. This is supposed to be a powerful statement of Christian ethics. It is all about life. Life is more than Bashar/flesh and Dam/blood. Life is the Bashar, the Good News for all people. If you are not about life, you have not the Good New/the flesh of God, within you. We are called to be Christian, meaning Christ-like, sacrificing ourselves for God and for each other.

Jesus gives us the power to become sons of God. That means being a family. If we are family, how can we stand by while we watch our sisters be talked about as if they are things, for errant boys to grab their kittens? If we voted for someone who talked like this, we need to go to confession. How can we stand by while we see people not able to fulfil their lives, their potential, in this world? If we voted for someone in the past election who plans to cut social services for those in need, we need to go to confession. If we voted that people who are dark complexioned, or speak funny/Hispanic or who think funny/Muslims are not a part of us, we need to go to confession.

To have the power to become Sons of God means to have the power to see all people are related to us. How can we allow family to be mistreated? If we do not treat all people as family, it means either God never gave us that power, or we are not using it. If we are not using it, we are not sons of God. We have not become Sons of God, and the choice is ours.

God gives us grace/kindness and truth/faith. Faith means being in contact with the “Aleph,” the leadership of God indwelling within us. It means having the Mem/the water of regeneration within us. Last, it means having the Tov, the cross of Christ within us. If Christ indwells within us, we are part of the Bride of Christ.

John speaks strongly of this indwelling in his Gospel. This is marriage language. According to Torah law, marriage is a two-step process. The first stage is “Kiddushin,” and the second step is  “Nassau.” The two-stage marriage is expressive of the uniqueness of a Judeo/Christian marriage. Marriage is more than two people who choose to share their lives with each other; it is the fusion of two souls, or to be more precise, two halves of one soul, which was severed in two before being catapulted from its heavenly abode into the bodies of a man and woman.

During Kiddushin the couple is married, except they cannot physically express their union. So in the absence of tangible connection, their soulful connection binds the two. Only after the connection of the souls has manifested itself during Kiddushin, laying the foundation for soulful marriage, can the couple proceed with Nassau, the physical aspect of their relationship.

Catholic tradition relates to this as S.P.I.C.E. Spiritually sharing of life between bride and groom through praying together and meditation. It included Physical closeness with plenty of hugs, kisses, holding hands, snuggling, and such. It also included Intellectual stimulations, the need to bounce ideas off one another. It included the need to be Communicative/Creative, and to Express feelings, desires, and joke together.

The duties of husband and wife as they would apply today in Kiddushin are:

Mezonot: To provide food and support for his wife “according to his wealth.” Clothing: To ensure that his wife has suitable clothes; this includes household items, bed linen, and dwelling place. Refu’ah: To pay his wife’s medical expenses, should she become ill. Burial: To cover his wife’s burial expenses. Should he predecease her, that she be provided for from his estate and be enabled to continue to reside in the marital home after his death as long as she remains a widow. To have her children by him inherit her ketubah, in addition to what they inherit along with others.

The Husband’s Entitlements from His Wife

Her handiwork: the wife is obliged to perform those household duties that are normally carried out for the family and the home (e.g., laundry, cooking, cleaning, nursing babies, raising his children, etc.); in addition, any income that the wife earns from her labors belongs to the husband. Found objects: items that the wife finds belong to her husband. Usufruct: the income from the wife’s assets belongs to her husband. Inheritance: the husband inherits his wife.

In addition, Nassau adds as the duties of the husband to his spouse, conjugal relations: To have sexual relations with her on a regular basis. The husband does not have that right from his spouse. She has that right from him. None of these rights include the right to abuse his/or her spouse in any way. Therefore, society does not have the right to abuse its citizens, or its guests, in any way.

The groom/God’s job is to provide for his spouse, the Bride of Christ. In exchange, the bride cares for his house and all who are in her home. This would include all of his children, including children that are not hers. How do we love God, as required in Shema? We respect his property, and in particular what God made in his image.

Judaism and Christianity state that man is a social animal, forever part of a family, a natio-. We promote not just justice, but concord, a musical term. We are one with the cosmos. Our harmonies intertwine in the great divine dance with God in perichoresis, a Greek term with foundations in Kiddushin. How can we be one with the cosmos, or one with God, if we are not one with each other if we do not promote the General Welfare? The general welfare is like general seafaring. It is a common faring/journey of all of us to God, nothing less.

Jesus comes through S.P.I.C.E., not our physical wants and desires. Remember, the shepherds found Jesus in Beth Lechem/the House of Bread, in the land of Judah/Eucharist, laying in a feeding trough. He was not found in a place of opulence and pleasure. Jesus has something to say about that when he speaks of the people going out to see John the Baptist. “You are the salt/Molech of the earth. But if salt/Molech loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” Matthew 5:13 The Hebrew word for a messenger and therefore an angel and a king is also Molech. Being a king, messenger, salt of the world is about far more than supplying basic needs. It is about this S.P.I.C.E. for all people. It is about helping all people live life to its fullest. John 10:10.

Kiddushin means making sure everyone else has Mezonot: To provide food and to support each other according to wealth. Clothing: To ensure that everyone has suitable clothes; this includes household items, bed linen, and dwelling place. Refu’ah: To pay each other’s medical expenses, should we become ill. Burial: To cover each other’s burial expenses.

Basis right and wrong is more; it is tied to S.P.I.C.E. It is making sure all people have the elements of S.P.I.C.E. . Spiritually sharing of life between bride and groom through praying together and meditation. It included Physical closeness with plenty of hugs, kisses, holding hands, snuggling, and such. It also included Intellectual stimulations, the need to bounce ideas off one another. It included the need to be Communicative/Creative, and to Express feelings, desires, and joke together. John tells us that Jesus goes to prepare a place for us. This means preparing for Nassau marriage.

In John 14:1-3 Jesus tells us that he goes to prepare a place for us. This is Nassau language, marriage language. We are currently in Kiddusin marriage with God as the bride of Christ. If we do not fulfill the elements of Kiddushin marriage, why should the groom return to bring us to Nassua/upraised marriage? If we do not fulfill the aspects of Kiddushin, does God really indwell within us? Are we ready for Nassau marriage that comes with the Second Coming? If not, why should he come to get us?

 

Our Blessed Virgin and what her betrothal means in relation to basic right and wrong.

This Christmas, as we celebrate the Vigil Mass, let us think of the most important question of our age. “What is the basic difference between right and wrong?” The Catholic tradition begins with the most important. Shema/hear Israel/those who struggle with God, God is Almighty; God is One. Love God with all your hearts, with all of your animate being, and with all of your measure.” How do we love God? What do we give someone who already has everything, literally? First, we guard and keep, Genesis 2, his garden. Second, we guard and keep what God made in his image, each other.

Then we find two strains of moral tradition in the Judeo-Christian tradition.  American tradition, up until a third of a century ago, plus three years, and Catholic/Christian moral tradition agreed on these latter two strains. Catholic moral tradition finds the first strain in Deuteronomy 30:11-19. This Mitzvah I give you today is not too wondrous or remote for you. It is not in the heavens, that you should say, “Who will go up to the heavens to get it for us and tell us of it, that we may do it?” Nor is it across the sea, that you should say, “Who will cross the sea to get it for us and tell us of it, that we may do it?” No, it is something very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to do it… I have set before you, life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life!”

A founding principle of our republic

This finds echoes in what had been our Declaration of Independence. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, and that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” The first tradition focuses upon life, Life lived to its fullest for all people, with liberty and the pursuit of Happiness, where that pursuit presupposes a reasonable chance of success.

In his “I Have a Dream Speech, when Martin Luther King JR. spoke of the “Fierce Urgency of Now,” he also spoke of a check a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the “unalienable Rights” of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” He goes on to speak of how America has defaulted on that check. The sad commentary is that our last election was about that same check. We still default on that check. If we want to know what the issues were in ’63, all we have to do is ask what they are now. M.L.K. J.R. could give the same speech today, not change a word, except changing the beginning to “Seven Score and Thirteen Years ago,” and all the words would ring as true today as they did when Brother Martin gave his speech.

A rabbi once pointed the meaning of Deuteronomy 30:19 out to me. Using Catholic moral tradition/Natural Law Theory, he pointed out that all life is in a process of becoming. Aristotle also spoke of this. St. Augustine followed Aristotle, and St. Thomas Aquinas, the patron of our parish, followed St. Augustine. All life is life in potential. “Choose Life,” “Boker Chaim,” therefore means promoting the potential in all human beings, and animals for that matter. That means ending abortion, yes, but it also means promoting the potentiality of life for the mother, and the father as he works in the factory, on the farm or in an office. It means helping all people to be all that they can be. That includes African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Jews, Muslims, and atheists.

This brings us to the third thread of what had been a third of a century and a few years ago, American moral tradition, and what has always been Catholic moral tradition. “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity…

The key word is “Welfare.” Another word for this is the common journey. Seafarers are on the common journey from port to port.

I remember being in a Catholic Bible study at Little Flower Church when someone asked me what we would call ourselves when we became, “My Delight.” I could not answer that question that day, but I will now.

“No more shall people call you “Forsaken/Eight zoo Bah,” or your land “Desolate/Shem Ma Mah,” but you shall be called “My Delight/Calf see Bo,” and your land “Espoused/ Baalah.” For the NAME delights/Calf eights see in you and he makes your land his spouse/Baal. As a young man Baal/chooses a young lady/Bitola, your Builder/Ben/son marries/Baal you. As the joy of the bride and the groom, so shall your God rejoice in you.”

The key word in this passage is “Baal.” Unlike English, Hebrew has several words for marriage. One of these is Baal. New Advent describes Baal as he who “gives “bread, water, wool, flax, oil, and drink” (Hosea 2:7); he is the male principle of life and reproduction in nature, and such is sometimes honored by acts of the foulest sensuality.”

The Hebrew for Hosea reads, “I will not have compassion upon her children; for they are children of harlotry. Their mother played the harlot; she that conceived them hath done shamefully; for she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, which give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink.”

This is the Baal form of marriage. The bridegroom is the great provider for the bride, and for it, there is the spousal duty. The prophets condemned worship/finding worth in the Baalim because this finding worth in this idol meant telling the world there another provider other than God. Today that provider is Mercury, Mars, and Moneto Juno, or the markets, military, and money. This finding worth meant identifying with, becoming one with/adultery with, this trinity.

“When his mother Mary was Kiddushin to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a Tzaddik, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly.” One can only divorce someone after they are married.

According to Torah law, marriage is a two-step process. The first stage is “Kiddushin,” and the second step is  “Nassau.” The two-stage marriage is expressive of the uniqueness of a Judeo/Christian marriage. Marriage is more than two people who choose to share their lives with each other; it is the fusion of two souls, or to be more precise, two halves of one soul, which was severed in two before being catapulted from its heavenly abode into the bodies of a man and woman.

It is interesting that the rabbis ruled that Kiddusin must last one year. Counselors now strongly suggest that engagement lasts at least a year. As a result, Church teaching strongly recommends engagement to last at least one year.

During Kiddushin the couple is married, except they cannot physically express their union. So in the absence of tangible connection, their soulful connection binds the two . Only after the connection of the souls has manifested itself during Kiddushin, laying the foundation for soulful marriage, can the couple proceed with Nassau, the physical aspect of their relationship.

Catholic tradition relates to this as S.P.I.C.E. Spiritually sharing of life between bride and groom through praying together and meditation. It included Physical closeness with plenty of hugs, kisses, holding hands, snuggling, and such. It also included Intellectual stimulations, the need to bounce ideas off one another. It included the need to be Communicative/Creative, and to Express feelings, desires, and joke together.

The duties of husband and wife as they would apply today in Kiddushin are:

Mezonot: To provide food and support for his wife “according to his wealth.” Clothing: To ensure that his wife has suitable clothes; this includes household items, bed linen, and dwelling place. Refu’ah: To pay his wife’s medical expenses, should she become ill. Burial: To cover his wife’s burial expenses. Should he predecease her, that she be provided for from his estate and be enabled to continue to reside in the marital home after his death as long as she remains a widow. To have her children by him inherit her ketubah, in addition to what they inherit along with others.

The Husband’s Entitlements from His Wife

Her handiwork: the wife is obliged to perform those household duties that are normally carried out for the family and the home (e.g., laundry, cooking, cleaning, nursing babies, etc.); in addition, any income that the wife earns from her labors belongs to the husband. Found objects: items that the wife finds belong to her husband. Usufruct: the income from the wife’s assets belongs to her husband. Inheritance: the husband inherits his wife.

In addition, Nassau adds as the duties of the husband to his spouse, Familial relations: To have sexual relations with her on a regular basis. The husband does not have that right from his spouse. She has that right from him. None of these rights include the right to abuse his/or her spouse in any way. Therefore, society does not have the right to abuse its citizens, or its guests, in any way.

The groom/God’s job is to provide for his spouse, the Bride of Christ. In exchange, the bride cares for his house and all who are in her home.How do we love God, as required in Shema? We respect his property, and in particular what God made in his image.

Judaism and Christianity state that man is a social animal, forever part of a family, a natio-. We promote not just justice, but concord, a musical term. We are one with the cosmos. Our harmonies intertwine in the great divine dance with God in perichoresis, a Greek term with foundations in Kiddushin. The general welfare is like general seafaring. It is a common faring/journey of all of us to God, nothing less.

That is why our common seating area in the church is the nave/Latin for a ship. That is why the sacristy is raised. On ships, the quarterdeck is the forecastle, upraised section behind the body of the nave, the ship. The earliest churches were built to look like ships. It reminds us of our common faring, our journey to toward God.

“The theme of Our Blessed Virgin Mary’s wedding is to surround. A veil surrounded our Blessed Virgin. She encircled her groom/Joseph. The chupah surrounded them both. The ring, too,was perfectly round. The circle represented the encompassing light that frames their reality, and ours; the supra-natural, manifestations of divine light. For two individuals to become one flesh is to violate all the laws of ego and identity, to overcome the basic existential rule that one and one makes two. Marriage thus requires the activation of the encompassing powers of all those involved.” “All those involved,” means everyone at the wedding. The wedding involves the whole community. That is why in our Catholic tradition, private weddings are not permitted. Then it means, God, Bride, and Groom.

The act of betrothal is kiddushin — sanctification — signifying the uniqueness of marriage where God Himself dwells in the home and the relationship is elevated to a new level of holiness. The transcendent divine dimension symbolized by the sacristy permeates every moment of their lives from this moment on.

The wedding band symbolizes The Transcendent Light’s permeation of the couple’s marriage. It is the permeation of the Transcendent life through all of our lives, as individuals and as a community. It is realizing we are each a majority of the whole, and we are each a minority of one. We are all sailors trying to sail from conception to the grave, and ultimately to God in one piece. The ring is round, signifying the encompassing light.

Marriage, therefore, has metaphysical and very physical aspects. Marriage has the concealed, the divine light, and the revealed, how we live out our lives.  The metaphysical aspect is the spiritual bonding . The physical aspect in Kiddushin marriage is not making children. It is running the house. It is doing the dishes, washing the clothes, watching after each other, cooking, cleaning, and in general, caring for the house, the planet.

We are the bride of Christ. Mary is Kiddushin to Joseph. Our Gospel and our first reading speak strongly to the essence of Judeo-Christian morality. Morality is more than making sure that I get mine. It is not promoting life where life is basic sustenance and no more. Morality is about more than providing for the general welfare. It is seeing ourselves in a marriage, parts of the Bride of Christ. The wedding is more than Bride/Groom, and God. It involves the whole community in love. Jesus comes through Kiddushin, not Nassau.

Jesus comes through S.P.I.C.E., not our physical wants and desires. Remember, the shepherds found Jesus in Beth Lechem/the House of Bread, in the land of Judah/Eucharist, laying in a feeding trough. He was not found in a place of opulence and pleasure. Jesus has something to say about that when he speaks of the people going out to see John the Baptist.

Basis right and wrong is therefore tied to S.P.I.C.E. and not justice where justice is giving every man his undefined due. Augustine and Cicero will correct Aristotle by relating that due to music.

St. Augustine, quoting Cicero in his Republic, tells us of the idea society, “As among the different sounds which proceed from lyres, flutes, and the human voice, there must be maintained a certain harmony which a cultivated ear cannot endure to hear disturbed or jarring. This may be elicited in full and absolute concord by the modulation even of voices very unlike one another. Where reason is allowed to modulate the diverse elements of the state, there is obtained a perfect concord from the upper, lower, and middle classes as from various sounds; and what musicians call harmony in singing, is concord in matters of state. This is the strictest bond and best security of any republic, and which by no ingenuity can be retained where justice has become extinct… The people he defines as being not every assemblage or mob, but an assemblage associated by a common acknowledgment of law, and by a community of interests. Then he shows the use of definition in debate; and from definitions of his own he gathers that a republic, or good of the people, then exists only when it is well and justly governed.”

“We the people of the United States of American, in order to form a more perfect union…” I pledge allegiance to the flag, and to the Republic…” The people he defines as being not every assemblage or mob, but an assemblage associated by a common acknowledgment of law and by a community of interests… a republic, or good of the people, then exists only when it is well and justly governed.”

This concord corresponds to the Transcendent Light of the Jewish marriage. Augustine ties justice with music. The reason the Jewish count of the Ten Commandments differs from ours is that Augustine tied the Ten Commandments with the strings of the lyre. For a society to be just, the Transcendent Light of God, which Shekinah/dwells in each of us, Deuteronomy 30:11 must serve as a model of human behavior.

Our word, “Nation,” and our word, “Nativity,” have the same Latin root. A nation is a group of people who are born together of the same mother, by birth, by the location of birth, or by shared national heritage. A nation is a group of people who participate in this concord, this light. They provide for the common welfare of all. This means they make sure all people have Life/life lived to its fullest, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

The correct definition of basic good and evil is that good means promoting life and participating in this divine light, this concord, this promotion of the general welfare or common journey of all people toward God. It means seeing ourselves in a marriage with every person we meet. It is seeing ourselves in our neighbor and acting to promote the potentiality of life in each person we see. This means a strong social welfare net, strong education, focusing not on the so-called three “R”s, but upon music and art, so we can make contact with that Transcendent Light. It means providing an education that promotes culture, and the class for which the Kennedy’s were so famous.  It means helping all people to feel that divine light, that concord God gives us all. Evil is everything else.

***

Of course, we have recently elected a President who is in his third marriage. He cheated on his first wife by dating his second one. He cheated on his second one by dating his third. While married to his third he bragged about affairs with others. His wife was a model, who posed for magazines very similar to Playboy. Each of the first three people this man put forward as prospective members of his cabinet are in their third marriages.This man’s first choice for working on Global Warming is someone who professes not to believe in Global Warming. He is a person who relishes in not having class.

Through this, he shows he does not understand what marriage is, and by extension, what a people or a republic is. He brags about using nuclear weapons and violence as a natural recourse to solving problems. He supports all people having access to the means to violence/guns and the death penalty. He supports abusing our guests in this land, even if those guests are in our prisons for transgressions. These are all violations of this concord, this transcendent light. These are all violations of both of the latter two threads of basic right and wrong, promoting the general welfare and promoting the potentiality of life. Why did we vote for this man?

The Fourth Sunday of Advent and our last election.

Paul, servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel/Bashar of God, which he promised previously through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, the gospel about his Son, descended from David according to the flesh/Bashar, but established as Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness/dedication/Kiddush through resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord through whom we have received the kindness of being sent out to bring about the hearing of faith, for the sake of his name, among all the Gentiles, among whom are you also, who are called to belong to Jesus Christ; to all the beloved of God in Rome, called to be holy/Kiddush.

In the original Greek, the above is the first sentence in Romans. The paragraph ends, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Master Jesus Messiah.” We also miss the pun St. Paul almost certainly meant as he wrote, “Set apart for the Gospel/Bashar,” and “Descended from David according to the flesh/Bashar.” The Greeks, in particular, Plato, spoke of the forms, which hold the world together. The Jewish community referred to Torah as one of these forms. When St. Paul speaks of Gospel, he also speaks of the new form, the Bashar, which is Jesus Christ, who comes in the flesh, Bashar. Holiness, Kiddush, also appears

“This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was Kiddush to Joseph, but before they lived together/bonded as Nassau, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a Tzaddic, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly.”

One only divorces someone to whom they are married. In Jewish tradition, a bride in Kiddush marriage was married in every way to her husband. The handiwork of the bride is for her spouse. The bride must perform those household duties normally carried out for her family and her home. She did the laundry of her Fiancé, cooked his meals, cleaned his home, and nursed any of his children. Any income she earned belonged to her Fiancé. Any items she found belonged to him, as did any income from interest. His obligation to her was to provide her Mezonot food and support, Lavash, suitable clothes, including household items, bed linen and a dwelling place, which is not to be his home. He must also pay for Refu’ah, medical expenses, should the bride become ill.

The purpose of this was to promote what Catholic tradition calls S.P.I.C.E. or Spiritually sharing of life between bride and groom through praying together and meditation. It included Physical closeness with plenty of hugs, kisses, holding hands, snuggling, and such. It also included Intellectual stimulations, the need to bounce ideas off one another. It included the need to be Communicative/Creative, and to Express feelings, desires, and joke together. Marriage must be bound together with these forces, and not with sexual attraction. The later lasts only a short while. The former lasts a lifetime. When the couple is not able to build their lives on sexual attraction, as they live apart, what remains is the former. They live and work close together. She does his laundry, his cooking, cleans his home, and cares for anyone else living in his house. He proves the materials to do so.

Mary is our Beloved Mother and our Church is the Bride of Christ.

In Jewish tradition, and in ours, this way of looking at the world has cosmic implications. Israel is the bride of God, and the Church is the Bride of Christ. As with the first-century Jewish groom who would often go off to prepare a separate new home for his bride, Jesus Goes off to prepare a new place for his bride in John’s Gospel.

This is a long way from our society where we knowing elect bullies and philanderers to the highest office in the land.  Where the bullied of the world face lawsuits and imprisonment if they resist the abuse. Our nation just told the world that bullying in the workplace, and in the home, is perfectly normal and acceptable behavior.

Ahaz tells Isaiah, “I will not ask! I will not tempt the Kyrie!” Can we say the same?

St. Paul greets his followers with, “Kindness to you and peace/Shalom. Shalom means tranquility that comes from living together and loving each other. This is a long way from knowingly electing people to the highest office in the land who brag about using nuclear weapons to steal the rock oil from under the dirt of other people’s feet.  Yet, this is what we have done, and we have done it in the name of pro-life. Now is the time to sit in sackcloth and ashes. Now is the time to ask ourselves, “What have we done?” Now that the abused of the world know that the American people say that bullying, violence, and death in the name of pro-life are OK, what will they do? Will they roll over and die for our bullies, or will they stand up and fight? I am sure some will do both. We now need to prepare ourselves for the consequences of our actions. We have shown we are not worthy of calling ourselves the Bride of Christ. We are not worthy of the harmony that comes with a well cared for home. We are worthy of the chaos we are going to get.

Have you done your chores, like a good spouse?

As we read the Gospel for this Third Sunday of Advent, we need to notice the order that Jesus tells his followers to tell John. First, notice the ending. “Evangelized,” is the Greek word and it is in the present, passive, indicative third person plural. The passage does not say Jesus is doing the evangelizing. It does not say who is doing the evangelizing.

First, it is important to notice, the blind regain their sight. The Hebrew/Aramaic word for “blind” is עִוְרִים. עִוְרִים can both mean awakened and blind. The awakened meet/come into contact with something. They consider and reason about something. The blind meet, come into contact with something they did not see before. The lame walk. The Hebrew word for lame is “Pesach.” Word’s grammar checker does not question this word, and for a reason. Pesach is Passover, from which we derive our Eucharist. The Last Supper was at Pesach. Those who truly experience Pesach, the Eucharist are no longer lame. They no longer have lame excuses for not acting. They now see, something, and they act on it. If you do not see, and if you do not act on what you see, it is proof that you have not truly experienced Passover/the Eucharist.

The Hebrew word used for “lepers/מְצרָעִים,” is the same as the Hebrew word for “Egypt.” Egypt is the oppressive place. “Moses called to all Israel, and told them, Hear, Israel, the customs and the precedents, I speak in your ears, this day, to learn them, and guard to do them. The NAME our God cut a covenant with us in Horeb. The NAME did not cut this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, all of us, alive, here, this day. The NAME spoke with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire.” Notice the candles to the right and to the left of the lectern at Mass, fires. I am the NAME your God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt/מִצְרַיִם, out of the house of bondage.”

The Hebrew/Aramaic in our Gospel then tells us of how the closed up hear and the dead rise up. When we truly experience the Eucharist/Passover, we are closed up no longer. We are now open to the world.

David, (The Jewish community has an amulet for weddings, Ani le Dodi V Dodi Li/I am to my beloved and my beloved is to me. I am to my David/beloved and he is to me.)  Let us love one another as love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. In this way, the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him… we have seen and testify that the Father sent his Son as savior/Joshua/Jesus/Salvation of the world. Whoever allows that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him and him in God. We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us… God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.  In this is love brought to perfection among us, that we have confidence on the Day of Judgment because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect/Shalom love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment, and so one who fears is not yet perfect in love. I John 7-18

Jewish marriage comes in two stages,  kiddushin, and Nassau. Kiddish is the Hebrew word for Holy, dedicated, sacred, or consecrated. In the first stage of marriage, the couple is married in every way except the bride has not moved in with the groom. The groom supports the bride, and the bride does the cooking, cleaning, and everything a wife normally does. In Matthew 1, when Matthew says the Mary is betrothed to Joseph, this is what Matthew has in mind. If the groom has the funds, he goes and prepares a new home for himself and his bride.

The old Marriage contract was the Torah. The new one is the Gospel.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father’s house, there are many salaries. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare an affectionate joining place for you? If go and prepare an affectionate joining place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be.” John 14:2-3

John’s Gospel has a couple of different possible meanings. The word usually translated as “Mansion,” can also translate as “Rebellions,” “Perverted “Places,” or “Crooked Places.” “In my Father’s House, there are many perversions. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare an affectionate joining place for you?” Perversion in the house of God is nothing new. As to the second part of the passage, there is a clear reference to Nassau marriage. Nassau marriage means upraised marriage. This is when the bride moves in with the groom, at the Second Coming. The metaphor continues.

If you know me, then you will also know my Father.  From now on you do know him and have seen him.” Philip told him, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” Jesus told him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who indwells/Shekinahs (The Hebrew word for the Holy Spirit is Shekinah and refers to the tent of meeting Joshua lived in, in the desert) in me is doing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves. Whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be made important in the Son.

Until the Second Coming, the reference is clear. We are the Bride of Christ. We are in Kiddishin marriage. Remember, that is a marriage where the wife/Bride of Christ, does all the housework. Being a total family, the Hebrew word for a place when he refers to an affectionate joining place can also refer to customs and nations, God calls for us to recognize how there are different customs in his big dwelling place. When Joshua Ben Nun/Joshua Son of the Fish went to the tent of meeting, there were twelve tribes, twelve different ways of viewing the world. Still, God prepares a room for all of them and all of us, with differing cultures, in his big tent of meeting.

The Command is to guard and to keep the Garden.

Jesus then says, “אִם־אֲהַבְתֶּם אֹתִי אֶת־מְִֹצתַי תִּשְׁמֹרוּ. If you love me, guard my Mitzvah.” We, therefore, keep coming back to the same concept. If God heals us, he moves us from blindness, not seeing the humanity in each other, to walking, as in walking to those who need help. This comes through Passover, the Eucharist. It comes through seeing the oppression of others and doing something. If you voted for a candidate who was married several times, and who had a reputation for harassing others, in particular women, entering their changing rooms, bragging about sexual conquests, and how that candidate bragging he could kill someone in Central Park and get away with it, the Eucharist has not moved you. You badly need confession.

God calls us to be pro-life. He calls us to bring the dead in each person we see, to life. He calls us to help all people live life and live it to its fullest. When Jesus speaks of the poor being evangelized to, he is not speaking about himself, but to his followers, us. He calls us to bring all people into Kiddushin marriage, to bring all people to the tent of meeting, to become part of his great extended family. He calls us to guard and care for his planet. That means doing something about Global Warming. Are we doing our chores? The groom is coming, and if not…

Seeing what you hear, and ‘in the desert prepare the way of God.’

John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea, “Teshuvah, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” It was of him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken: A voice of one Isaac. In the desert prepare the way of the NAME, make straight his paths. Gospel for the Second Sunday of Advent

Greek and Hebrew has no punctuation. Hebrew has no vowels. We speak of the Word proclaimed.

While reading, his (Ambrose’s) eyes glanced over the pages, and his heart searched out the sense, but his voice and tongue were silent. Often, when we had come (for no one was forbidden to enter, nor was it his custom that the arrival of those who came should be announced to him), we saw him thus reading to himself, and never otherwise.” Confessions Book 6: Chapter 3 St. Ambrose came up with the idea of silent reading. Before that point, everything was chanted.

The masses flock to the churches. There we see their chaste acts of celebration, and a seemly separation of the sexes is observed. This is where they learn how they may so spend this earthly life, as to merit a blessed eternity hereafter; where Holy Scripture and instruction in righteousness are from a raised platform in the presence of all, that both they who do the word may hear to their salvation, and they who do it not may hear to judgment. There the precepts of the true God are recommended, His miracles narrated, His gifts praised, or His benefits implored. City of God Book 2, Chapter 28 Most people did not know how to read. The Word was read to them by their elders.

Within the Hebrew texts, there are two similar, yet unique systems of cantillation symbols. The first system is associated with the literary portions of the Bible and the second system with the Psalm manuscripts, the book of Job and Proverbs. There are also two schools of thought regarding these systems. The traditional premise is that the symbols of both cantillation systems represent specific vocal articulations that are used to intone the texts over traditional melodies, the execution of which varies from religious community-to-religious community. The second school of thought is that the cantillation symbols found within the Psalm manuscripts represent specific fixed pitches on which the texts were sung.

When we speak of proclaiming the word, we speak of how these texts were sung. There was no punctuation. The only way to know where the punctuation should be was to hear it sung at Mass, or for the Jews, in Synagogue. “Synagogue,” is a Greek term for the Jewish Beth Knesset or house of study. The general music notation for the reading for the Second Sunday of Advent is “A voice of one Isaac, in the desert prepare the way of the NAME. The linked site has a link allowing the reader to hear the chant, with the correct pause.

Explanation of Tekiyah

With this in mind, we read the first reading. “The spirit of the NAME shall rest upon him:
a spirit of wisdom and of Ben/building up of others/understanding, a spirit of counsel/tree and of strength, a spirit of knowledge/ assemblage of facts and of fear of the NAME, and his delight shall be the fear of the NAME. Not by appearance shall he judge, nor by hearsay shall he decide…”

The Hebrew word for Spirit also translates breath. It also translates, “Smell.” Hebrew scholars have taken this to mean, The aroma of the NAME shall rest upon him: an aroma of clearly knowing what one learned from experience, and of building up (of others) an aroma of being like a tree, soft on the outside, strong on the inside, an aroma of strength. He will have an aroma of knowledge, and an aroma of fear/rayah of the Name. His delight will be in the fear/rayah of the Name. Rayah also translates as seeing and as shepherding. This is a looking to God as being members of his flock.

Hebrew scholars then look at the next section. “Not by appearance shall he judge, nor by hearing shall he decide.” Messiah decides by smell. Jesus tells us in Mark 4:24, “Βλέπετε τί ἀκούετε.” “See what you hear.” It means the same thing. Jesus uses a mixed metaphor to make the same point. Messiah sees with what he hears. He goes by a sense of smell. He touches people nobody else would touch. He uses all of his senses at one and calls us to do likewise.

See what you hear. Engage all of your senses, at once.

This brings us to the cantillation of our passage. “In the desert prepare the way of God.” This intense use of the senses takes time and practice. This is why Jesus goes out to pray. Prayer, in Greek and in Hebrew is reflexive. The Hebrew base is judgment. It is sitting down and reflecting along with God, on how to make our lives better, and our community better. It is sitting down with God and deciding what his will is. It is giving us (not me, but us) our daily bread. That means reflecting with God on how all will have enough to eat. The Greek τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον literally translates the bread of the over being, the spiritual bread. Insofar as it is bread, it is for all. Then comes the call to forgive one another, followed by leading each other into temptation. Deliver us from rot/ ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ, means helping us to all live healthy/vibrant lives. We do this by first seeing each other with all of our senses.

Mark 7 has the healing of the deaf man. Jesus does nothing to fix his speech problem. His hearing problem is solved, and with it, his speech problem. If we do not hear, we cannot speak properly. What we say is gibberish. Mark drives home the point a chapter later in the healing of the blind man in the fishing village/Bethsaida. First, the blind man sees people as walking trees. The Hebrew word for tree, again, is the same as that for a counselor. He sees walking counselors, stodgy old men with no personality. This is how we see our professional people today. They are to go entirely by the rules. They are to be cogs in the machine. They are to put all personality out of their decisions and go by the letter.

Jesus has none of this. The second time Jesus heals the man, he sees. He does not see as we see. He does not see as “professionals” see. He sees the way God wants us to see. Professional comes from how we profess our faith. That means using all of our senses, at once. It judging with the sense of smell, smelling the aroma of all that is around us, in particular, the aroma of God in all people. It means seeing what we hear. It means being just that sensitive. Then the lion in us will be able to rest with the lamb in others.