Moses said to the people:

“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. (Deuteronomy 6: 4-13)

We hear the sermons of Moses today and into next week from the Book of Deuteronomy. Today’s sermon begins with the first commandment and key to the Mosaic Law. Jesus cited these words as “the greatest and first commandment; all others are contained in it. (Matthew 22:37-38)

Called in Judaism the Shema, it was a recited in later Jewish tradition every evening and morning.

“Take the words to heart,” Moses says, “drill them into your children, speak them at home and abroad, when you are busy or at rest.”

Years ago, Fr. Victor Donovan, a priest of my community, the Passionists, who was a devoted friend of the Jewish people, gave me this mezuzah, which I have on the door to my room, to remind me of this commandment.  (Above)