Reading of the Word of God

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people acquired by God
to proclaim his marvellous works.

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

Deuteronomy 4,1.5-9

'And now, Israel, listen to the laws and customs which I am teaching you today, so that, by observing them, you may survive to enter and take possession of the country which Yahweh, God of your ancestors, is giving you. Look: as Yahweh my God commanded me, I have taught you laws and customs, for you to observe in the country of which you are going to take possession. Keep them, put them into practice, and other peoples will admire your wisdom and prudence. Once they know what all these laws are, they will exclaim, "No other people is as wise and prudent as this great nation!" And indeed, what great nation has its gods as near as Yahweh our God is to us whenever we call to him? And what great nation has laws and customs as upright as the entirety of this Law which I am laying down for you today? 'But take care, as you value your lives! Do not forget the things which you yourselves have seen, or let them slip from your heart as long as you live; teach them, rather, to your children and to your children's children.

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

After having recalled some moments of Israel's journey into the wilderness, the author of the Book of Deuteronomy, wants the people to become aware of their vocation in the world. And he begins to remind them of his first task, that is listening to the Lord: "So now, Israel, listen!", says Moses to the Israelites. It is not a simple moral exhortation. Listening to God for Isarel, is an essential condition of the covenant. God comes down from heaven and speaks to the Israelites to make them his people. The guarantee of the covenant is precisely God's decision to continue to speak to his people, and it remains as far as Isarel continues to listen to God. With his Word God continues to guide them making them victorious amongst nations after the liberation from Egypt. The Torah, the Law, is Israel's treasure of wisdom which makes them testimonies of God among people. Each Israelite will have the task to transmit this wisdom of faith to the following generations so that the history of salvation may inspire the generations that come one after the other. The heart of this passage from Deuteronomy, which is like a red thread that accompanies the entire journey of Israel, is contained in Moses' statement posed as a question: "What other great nation has a god so near to it, as the LORD our God is whenever we call to him?" (v. 7). But the observance of the law, then as today, is only possible as a free response to God who has chosen us in love and who wants to bind us to him and to his plan of salvation to the world.