This week, Father Perry writes from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
Father Perry D. Leiker, pastor.
By Father Perry D. Leiker, pastor
A reflection on the daily readings, for Friday of the Third Week of Lent, by Father Perry.
+ “Understandan” is the Old English word from which came our word “understand” — and the “under” does not have the usual meaning of “beneath”; rather, it carries the significance of “among,” or “between.”
Several other words from these roots all carry the significance of looking at something with the ability to receive and scrutinize and examine, and to know and grasp in a way that changes and brings comprehension.
It is, clearly, the power of words with their subtle meanings that help us to discover truth and meaning.
And so God speaks through the prophet Hosea and says: “Let him who is wise understand these things.”
And to be sure it is, no doubt, wisdom itself that helps to bring such understanding.
All of the fruitfulness flowing from and through our spirit is ripened all the more with understanding.
And as we grasp and come to know in ways that are profoundly Godlike, God’s truth shines in us and brings peace and fullness of spirit and living, and goodness and God-ness in us.
+ Call it proof in the Gospel story from Mark.
One of the scribes comes to Jesus and asks a question to seek understand: “Which is the first of all the commandments?”
Jesus’ incredible answer not only showed understand, but brought understanding to all who would consider not just what he said but why he said it and what it would bring to those who grasped its meaning.
Jesus condenses all the commands (there were only 613 commands for the Jews) into just two verses, giving us a blueprint on how we should live our lives.
But the wisdom par excellence that Jesus gives is absolutely transforming.
In joining Deuteronomy 6:5 — loving God; and Leviticus 19:18 — loving neighbor — Jesus reveals how, really, doing one is doing the other, and doing only one makes no sense without the other.
Everything else is summed up in these.
And the proof in this pudding is the response of the scribe.
“How right you are!” This command that you give, Jesus, is worth more — says the scribe — than “any burnt offering or sacrifice.”
Get this and we all have true understanding!
Father Perry D. Leiker is the 13th pastor of St. Bernard Catholic Church. Reach him at (323) 255-6142. Email Father Perry at pleiker@stbernard-church.com. Follow Father Perry on Twitter: @MrDeano76.
