Aug-29 Liturgical Study Twenty-second Sunday
Twenty-second Sunday Laws are made to preserve and protect what we behold to be valuable and sacred The 613 mitzvot or laws of the Torah are all derived from the 5 books of the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy). According to the Talmud (meaning a study of the Torah published around the year 200 CE by Rabbi Judah the Patriarch), they can be characterized as 365 prohibitions (don’ts) and 248 prescriptions (do’s) covering opinions (ideas), acts, virtues (traces of character) and speech. Jesus also says it's not the rituals that draw you closer to God but what comes from within (the heart). Nothing from outside can defile a person, it is the evil from the heart that takes one away from God. Jesus clears away the rituals and gives one overarching commandment: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself." 1st reading - Deuteronomy 4:1-2,6-8 The book of Deuteronomy ...