나바르 매일미사 독서/묵상

Saturday

18th Week of Ordinary Time

(I) 1st Reading: Deuteronomy 6:4-13

The Shema
-----------------
(Moses said to the people,) [4] "Hear; 0 Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD;
[5] and you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your
soul, and with all your might. [6] And these words which I command you this
day shall be upon your heart; [7] and you shall teach them diligently to your chil-
dren, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by
the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. [8] And you shall bind them
as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. [9]
And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

An Appeal for Faithfulness
--------------------------------------
[10] "And when the LORD your God brings you into the land which he swore to
your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you, with great and good-
ly cities, which you did not build, [11] and houses full of all good things, which you
did not fill, and cisterns hewn out, which you did not hew, and vineyards and olive
trees, which you did not plant, and when you eat and are full, [12] then take heed
lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the
house of bondage. [13] You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve him,
and swear by his name."

*********************************************************************************** Commentary:

6:4-19. This is a very moving text and one of special importance for the faith and
life of the chosen people. The high-point comes at v. 5, which is reminiscent of
other pages of the Old Testament (Deut 10:12; Hos 2:21-22; 6:6). The love
which God seeks from Israel is preceded by God's love for Israel (cf. Deut 5:32-
33). Here we touch one of the central points of God's revelation to mankind,
both in the Old and in the New Testament: over and above everything else,
God is love (cf., e.g., 1 Jn 4:8-16).

Verse 4 is a clear, solemn profession of monotheism, which is a distinctive fea-
ture of Israel that marks it out from the nations round about (cf. the note on 5:6-
10). The first Hebrew word of v. 4 ("shema": "Hear") has given its name to the
famous prayer which the Israelites recited over the centuries and which is made
up largely of 6:4:9; 11:18-21 and Numbers 5:37-41. Pious Jews still say it today,
every morning and evening. In the Catholic Church, vv. 4-7 are said at Compline
after first vespers on Sundays and solemnities in the Liturgy of Hours.

The exhortations in vv. 8-9 were given a literal interpretation by the Jews: this is
the origin of phylacteries and of the "mezuzah". Phylacteries were short tassels
or tapes which were attached to the forehead and to the left arm, and each tas-
sel held a tiny box containing a biblical text, the two Deuteronomy texts of the
"Shema" plus Exodus 3:1-10, 11-16; in our Lord's time the Pharisees wore wider
tassels to give the impression that they were particularly observant of the Law
(cf. Mt 23:5). The "mezuzah" is a small box, attached to the doorposts of
houses, which contains a parchment or piece of paper inscribed with the two
texts from Deuteronomy referred to; Jews touch the "mezuzah" with their fin-
gers, which they then kiss, on entering or leaving the house.

6:5. God asks Israel for all its love. Yet, is love something that can be made the
subject of a commandment? What God asks of Israel, and of each of us, is not
a mere feeling which man cannot control; it is something that has to do with the
will. It is an affection which can and should be cultivated by taking to heart, ever-
more profoundly, our filial relationship with our Father; as the New Testament (1
Jn 4:10,19) will later put it: "In this is love, not that we loved God but that he
loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins.[...] We love, because
he first loved us." That is why God can indeed promulgate the precept of love;
as he does in this verse of Deuteronomy (6:5) and further on in 10:12-13.

"With all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might" (v. 5): the
wording shows that love for God should be total. Our Lord will quote these verses
(4-5), which were so familiar to his listeners, when identifying the first and most
important of the commandments (cf Mt 12:29-30).

"When someone asks him 'Which commandment in the Law is the greatest?'
(Mt 22:36), Jesus replies: 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first com-
mandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On
these two commandments hang all the Law and the prophets' (Mt 22:37-40; cf.
Deut 6:5; Lev 19:18). The Decalogue must be interpreted in light of this twofold
yet single commandment of love, the fullness of the Law" ("Catechism of the
Catholic Church", 2055).

6:13. The exhortation to fear of the Lord is to be found often in Deuteronomy and
in the entire Old Testament. It does not mean an irrational fear or terror in regard
to Yahweh. Fear of the Lord is, rather, a rule of behavior, equivalent to being faith-
ful to the Covenant, obeying the commandments, walking in the way of the Lord,
serving him with all one's heart (cf. 10:12); it is a fear which means that one fears
nothing else--enemies or strange gods (cf. e.g., 5:7; 6:14; 11:16). In practice, a
"God-fearing" Jew is a devout Jew (cf., e.g., 1 Kings 18:3; Lk 1:50).
**********

(II) 1st Reading: Habakkuk 1:12-2:4

The prophet's second complaint
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[12] Art thou not from everlasting,
O Lord my God, my Holy One?
We shall not die.
O Lord, thou hast ordained them as a judgment;
and thou, O Rock, hast established them for chastisement.
[13] Thou who art of purer eyes than to behold evil
and canst not look on wrong,
why dost thou look on faithless men,
and art silent when the wicked swallows up
the man more righteous than he?
[14] For thou makest men like the fish of the sea,
like crawling things that have no ruler.
[15] He brings all of them up with a hook,
he drags them out with his net,
he gathers them in his seine;
so he rejoices and exults.
[16] Therefore he sacrifices to his net
and burns incense to his seine;
for by them he lives in luxury,
and his food is rich.
[17] Is he then to keep on emptying his net,
and mercilessly slaying nations for ever?

[1] I will take my stand to watch,
and station myself on the tower,
and look forth to see what he will say to me,
and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

God's reply
-----------------
[2] And the Lord answered me:
"Write the vision;
make it plain upon tablets,
so he may run who reads it.
[3] For still the vision awaits its time;
it hastens to the end -- it will not lie.
If it seem slow, wait for it;
it will surely come, it will not delay.
[4] Behold, he whose soul is not upright in him shall fail,
but the righteous shall live by his faith.

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

1:12-2:1. Here the prophet gives full expression to his confusion. He admits that
God is the sovereign Lord who has raised up the Chaldeans "as a judgment" and
"for chastisement" (1:12). The chastisement is valid, but what he does not under-
stand is the method God uses: How is it possible for the Lord, who is the immor-
tal Holy One (1:12), to choose a treacherous and unbelieving nation to carry out
the punishment (1:13)? And he then goes on to explain in what this treachery
and faithlessness consists. He describes the treachery by using the analogy of
fishing: men, the righteous (cf. 1:13), are like fish that are living in their natural
habitat, the sea, and the invader is like the fisherman who catches them with
his hook, net and seine (1:15) and then kills them. But this treachery turns into
irreligion; for the invader delights in what he does; worse still, he adores what
gives him power (1:16-17; cf. 1:11). There may be a reference here to some Eas-
tern peoples who had the custom of offering an annual sacrifice to their sword,
taking it as a symbol of their god of war (Herodotus, History, 4, 62), but in bibli-
cal tradition the seduction of power is often likened to or described as idolatry:
"Idolatry not only refers to false pagan worship. It remains a constant tempta-
tion to faith. Idolatry consists in divinizing what is not God. Man commits idola-
try whenever he honours and reveres a creature in place of God, whether this be
gods or demons (for example, satanism), power, pleasure, race, ancestors, the
state, money, etc. Jesus says, 'You cannot serve God and mammon' (Mt 6:24).
Many martyrs died for not adoring 'the Beast', refusing even to simulate such
worship. Idolatry rejects the unique Lordship of God; it is therefore incompatible
with communion with God" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2113).

But the prophet is a man of faith; even though he does not understand what God
is telling him, he continues to listen carefully, because he knows that God will
not fail him: "Listen to the words of Habakkuk: I will take my stand to watch, and
station myself on the tower, and look forth to see what he will say to me, and
what I will answer concerning my complaint. We too, my beloved brothers, should
be watchmen, for the day of battle has come. Let us enter into the depths of our
hearts, where Christ lives and awaits us. May we refine our spirits and be prudent,
never trusting to our own strengths, but concentrating on keeping our watch and
weak guard" (St Bernard, Sermones de diversis, 5, 4).

2:2-4. As if admitting that the prophet is right, God answers his questions. The
first point he makes clear is that when he promises something, it will happen:
time may pass, but his word will not pass away unfulfilled (vv. 2-3). And this de-
lay is a test of people's faithfulness (v. 4).

2:2-4. 마치 이 예언자가 올바르다는 것을 인정하듯이, 하느님께서는 그의 질문들에
답변하십니다. 당신께서 분명하게 하는 그 첫 번째는 당신께서 어떤 것을 약속하실 때,
그것은 일어날 것이라는 것입니다: 시간은 지날 것이나, 그러나 당신의 말씀은 구현되지
않고 없어지지 않을 것입니다(제2-3절). 그리고 이러한 지연은 사람들의 충실함
(faithfulness)에 대한 하나의 시험(a test)입니다(제4절).

The last verse here ("Behold ... the righteous shall live by his faith") is important
in both the Jewish and Christian biblical traditions. Some rabbis saw it as a sum-
mary of all 613 commandments of the Law; the writers of the Qumran commen-
tary understood it to mean that he who kept the Law would escape the Judgment;
and in the New Testament it is quoted on a number of occasions in connexion
with the power of faith and the need for fortitude.

여기서 마지막 절["보라, ... 의인은 성실함으로 산다(Behold ... the righteous shall
live by his faith)"]은 유다주의 및 그리스도교의 성경적 전통들 둘 다에 있어
중요합니다. 일부 라삐들은 이 절을 율법(the Law)의 613 계명들 모두의 요약으로
이해하였으며, 그리고 쿰란 주석(the Qumran commentary)의 저자들은 이 절이
율법을 지키는 자는 최후의 심판(the Judgment)을 면할(escape) 수 있을 것임을
뜻한다고 이해하였고, 그리고 신약 성경에서 이 절은 믿음의 힘(the power of
faith) 및 용기(용덕)의 필요성(the need of fortitude)과 관련하여 여러 번의
경우들에 있어 인용되고 있습니다.

-----
번역자 주:
(1) 여기서 말하는 쿰란 주석(the Qumran commentary)은, 1QpHab (Cave 1,
Qumran, pesher, Habakkuk)로 알려진 하바쿡서에 대한 주석으로서, 1947년에 쿰란
동굴에서 발견된 사해 문서(Dead Sea Scrolls)의 일부를 말한다.
-----

However, the verse is difficult to translate; this can be seen in various translations
and even in the way the text is quoted in the New Testament. The Letter to the
Hebrews 10:38 quotes this passage, working from the Greek translation, to exhort
Christians to persevere in the faith they have received: "My righteous one shall live
by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him." Although the au-
thor of Hebrews inverts the order of the original, the meaning is unchanged. Simi-
larly, "faith" ("faithfulness": note d) translates a very common word ('emunah)
which means stability, faithfulness, faith. It is a quality of God (Deut 32:4) and also
of those who honour him (2 Chron 19:9) and who are righteous in his eyes (Prov
12:22). In Romans 1:17 and Galatians 3:11, St Paul quotes the second part of the
Habakkuk verse ("the righteous shall live by his faith") applied to the individual, to
ground his teaching on justification by faith rather than by the works of the Law.
St Paul's use of the verse means that it is very important from a Christian point of
view.

그러나, 이 절은 번역하는 것이 힘든데, 이것은 다양한 번역본(translations)들에서
그리고 심지어 신약 성경에서 이 본문이 인용되고 있는 방식에서 발견될 수 있습니다.
히브리인들에게 보낸 서간 10,38은, 그리스어 번역본(즉, 칠십인역)으로부터 작업하여,
그리스도인들에게 그들이 이미 받아들인 믿음(faith) 안에서 인내할 것을 권고하기 위하여
이 부분을 다음과 같이 인용하고 있습니다: "나의 의인은 믿음으로 살리라. 그러나 뒤로
물러서는 자는 내 마음이 기꺼워하지 않는다." 비록 히브리서의 저자가 원문의 순서를
거꾸로 하고 있으나, 그 의미는 변화가 없습니다. 마찬가지로, "믿음(faith)"
["성실함(faithfulness)": 주 d]은, 안정(stability), 성실함(faithfulness), 믿음(faith)을
뜻하는, 매우 널리 쓰이는(common) [히브리어] 단어('emunah')를 번역한 것입니다.
이것은 하느님의 한 본질(a quality)이며(신명 32,4) 그리고 당신을 존경하는 자들의
한 본질이며(2역대 19,9) 그리고 당신의 눈에 있어 의로운 자들의 한 본질입니다
(창세기 15,6; 잠언 12,22). 로마서 1,17과 갈라티아서 3,11에서, 성 바오로는,
율법의 일(works)들에 의한 것이라기 보다는 믿음에 의한 의화(justification by
faith rather than by the works of the Law)에 대한 자신의 가르침의 기초를
두기 위하여, 개인에게 적용되는 하바쿡서 절의 두 번째 부분["의인은 성실함으로
산다(the righteous shall live by his faith)"]을 인용합니다. 이 절에 대한
성 바오로의 사용은 이 절이 그리스도교의 관점에 있어 대단히 중요함을 뜻합니다.(*)

-----
(*) 번역자 주: 다음의 주소에 접속하면 이에 대한 글을 읽을 수 있다:
http://ch.catholic.or.kr/pundang/4/soh/993.htm
-----

St Jerome's interpretation takes account of both the original audience and the
Christian readership: "If your faith is weak and you begin to doubt that what was
promised will come about, you will cause my soul great displeasure. But the just
man, who believes in my word and never doubts the promises I make, will receive
eternal life as his reward [...]. It is clear that these words contain a prophecy of
the coming of Christ. The problem they contain will be resolved by him: sin will tri-
umph and punishment be never-ending until He comes" (Commentarii in Abacuc,
2, 4). The verse is similar in style to a proverb (or maxim), and can be readily ap-
plied to the Christian life. For example, just as the New Testament says of St Jo-
seph that he was a just man (cf. Mt 1:19), the Habakkuk passage can be applied
to him as a sign that justice implies faith: "To be just is not simply a matter of
obeying rules. Goodness should grow from the inside; it should be deep and vital
-- for the just man lives by faith' (Hab 2:4). These words, which later became a fre-
quent subject of St Paul's meditation, really did apply in the case of St Joseph.
He didn't fulfill the will of God in a routine or perfunctory way; he did it sponta-
neously and wholeheartedly. For him, the law which every practising Jew lived by
was not a code or a cold list of precepts, but an expression of the will of the li-
ving God. So he knew how to recognize the Lord's voice when it came to him so
unexpectedly and so surprisingly" (St. Escrivá, Christ Is Passing By, 41).

성 예로니모(St. Jerome)의 해석은 원래의 청중 및 그리스도교 독자층 둘 다를 다음과
같이 고려합니다: "만약에 그대의 믿음이 약하여 그리하여 약속되었던 바가 이루어질
것임을 그대가 의심하기 시작한다면, 그대는 나의 영혼에 커다란 불유쾌(displeasure)를
야기할 것입니다. 그러나, 나의 말을 믿어 그리하여 내가 한 약속들을 결코 의심하지 않는,
의로운 사람은 [...] 자신의 보상으로서 영원한 생명을 받을 것입니다. 이러한 표현들이
그리스도의 도래에 대한 예언을 포함하고 있는 것은 분명합니다. 그들이 가지고 있는
다음과 같은 문제는 당신에 의하여 해결될 것입니다: 죄는 승리할 것이며 그리하여
당신께서 오실 때까지 벌은 끝남이 없을 것입니다" [Commentarii in Abacuc, 2, 4].
이 절은 양식에 있어 한 개의 격언(a proverb) [혹은 금언(maxim)]과 비슷하며, 그리고
그리스도인들의 삶에 쉽사리(readily) 적용될 수 있습니다. 예를 들어, 신약 성경이
성 요셉(St. Joseph)에 대하여 그가 의로운 사람이었다고 말하는 것(마태오 복음서 1,19
를 참조하라)과 꼭 마찬가지로, 하바쿡서의 이 구절은 정의(justice, 의로움)가 믿음
(faith)을 뜻하는 하나의 표지(a sign)로서 다음과 같이 그에게 적용될 수 있습니다:
"의롭고자 함이 단순히 규정들을 지키는 문제만은 아닙니다. 선함이 내면으로부터
성장하여야 하며, 그리고 그것은 깊어야 하며 그리고 긴요하여야(vital)만 하는데, 이는
의인은 성실함으로 살기(하바쿡 2,4) 때문입니다. 나중에 성 바오로의 묵상의 한 개의
빈번한 주제(subject)가 되었던 이러한 표현들은 정말로 성 요셉의 경우에 꼭 들어맞습니다
(apply). 그는 하느님의 뜻을 판에 박힌 혹은 형식적인 방식으로 실현하지 않았으며,
그는 이 뜻을 자발적으로 그리고 전심(專心)으로(wholeheartedly) 실현하였습니다.
그에게 있어, 실천하는 모든 유다인이 생활의 지침으로 삼았던 율법은 하나의 법전
(a code) 혹은 규범들의 차가운 목록이 아니라, 살아계신 하느님의 뜻의 한 표현이었습니다.
그래서 주님의 음성이 전혀 예상 밖으로 그리고 대단히 놀랍게 그에게 들려왔을 때에
어떻게 인식하여야 하는지를 그는 알고 있었습니다" [성 호세마리아 에스크리바
(St. Escrivá), Christ Is Passing By, 41].

Gospel Reading: Matthew 17:14-20

The Curing of an Epileptic Boy
--------------------------------------------
[14] And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and kneeling
before him said, [15] "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and
he suffers terribly; for often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. [16]
And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him." [17] And
Jesus answered, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long am I to be with
you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me." [18] And Jesus
ebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured instantly.
[19] Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not
cast it out?" [20] He said to them, "Because of your little faith. For truly, I say
to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this moun-
tain, 'Move hence to yonder place,' and it will move; and nothing will be impos-
sible to you."

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Commentary:

14-21. This episode of the curing of the boy shows both Christ's omnipotence
and the power of prayer full of faith. Because of his deep union with Christ, a
Christian shares, through faith, in God's own omnipotence, to such an extent
that Jesus actually says on another occasion, "he who believes in me will also
do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go
to the Father" (Jn 14:12).

Our Lord tells the Apostles that if they had faith they would be able to work mira-
cles, to move mountains. "Moving mountains" was probably a proverbial saying.
God would certainly let a believer move a mountain if that were necessary for
his glory and for the edification of one's neighbor; however, Christ's promise is
fulfilled everyday in a much more exalted way. Some Fathers of the Church (St.
Jerome, St. Augustine) say that "a mountain is moved" every time someone is
divinely aided to do something which exceed man's natural powers. This clearly
happens in the work of our sanctification, which the Paraclete effects in our
souls when we are docile to him and receive with faith and love the grace given
us in the sacraments: we benefit from the sacraments to a greater or lesser de-
gree depending on the dispositions with which we receive them. Sanctification
is something more sublime than moving mountains, and it is something which
is happening every day in so many holy souls, even though most people do not
notice it.

The Apostles and many saints down the centuries have in fact worked amazing
material miracles; but the greatest and most important miracles were, are and
will be the miracles of souls dead through sin and ignorance being reborn and
developing in the new life of the children of God.

20. Here and in the parable of Matthew 13:31-32 the main force of the compari-
son lies in the fact that a very small seed--the mustard seed--produces a large
shrub up to three meters (ten feet) high: even a very small act of genuine faith
can produce surprising results.
　

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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase
The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.