Christ is present to his Church

Treasures of Our Faith with Deacon Richard Vehige

On Sunday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time our Church invites us to read and reflect on a passage from the beginning of the book of Deuteronomy (18:1-22) entitled “Levitical priests. True and False prophets”. Our treasure, which follows, is from the constitution on the sacred Liturgy of the Second Vatican Council.

The “Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy” establishes the principle of greater participation by the laity in the celebration of mass and authorizes significant changes in the texts, forms, and language used in the celebration of mass and the administration of the sacraments.

The book of Deuteronomy ends the five books of the Torah or Pentateuch with a retrospective account of Israel’s past—the exodus, the Sinai covenant, and the wilderness wanderings—and a look into Israel’s future as they stand poised to enter the land of Canaan and begin their life as a people there.

The book consists of three long addresses by Moses. Each of these contains narrative, law, and exhortation, in varying proportions. In an expansion of the first commandment of the decalogue, Moses tells the Israelites how to make a success of their life as a people once they are settled in the land. The choice presented to Israel is to love the Lord and keep his commandments, or to serve “other gods.” That choice will determine what kind of life they will make for themselves in the land. Whichever choice they make as a people carries consequences, which Deuteronomy terms “blessing” and “curse.” Thus, the book can be seen as a kind of survival manual for Israel in their life as a people: how to live and what to avoid. This gives the book its hortatory style and tone of life-or-death urgency.