Daily Scripture Reflection & Prayer: August 16, 2024

Date: Friday of 19th Week in Ordinary Time/Optional Memorial of St. Stephen of Hungary

Scripture Text:  Deuteronomy 6:3-9

Moses said to the people: "Hear, Israel, and be careful to observe these commandments, that you may grow and prosper the more, in keeping with the promise of the LORD, the God of your fathers, to give you a land flowing with milk and honey.

"Hear, O Israel!  The LORD is our God, the LORD alone! Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today. Drill them into your children. Speak of them at home and abroad, whether you are busy or at rest. Bind them at your wrist as a sign and let them be as a pendant on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates."

Breaking the text open – background and summary:

The first reading for today’s optional memorial of St. Stephen is the “Shema” or “Hear!” It recounts Moses words to the Israelites at the end of their exodus journey, focusing on the essential truth and commandment of life: there is one LORD; we are to love the LORD with all our being.

Meditating on the text with personal questions:

Would another know from observing me that I believe in the LORD and that I love the LORD with all my being?

Praying:

LORD, You alone are LORD. You are Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier. Send your Spirit to tenderize my being so that it may wholly absorb my dependence upon You and your love and so that your love may fill every fiber of my being and transform me into the one You call me to be. Grant that I may profess my love daily, but more importantly live my love moment to moment. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.