+ Jean Danielou, The
Lord of History, 316-318
A WORD IN SEASOM,Readings for the Liturgy of the Hours. Augustine
Press 1995
33rd Week Ord Time WEDNESDAY
First Reading
EzekieI20:27-44
Responsory Ex 20:1-3;
Is 42:8
I am the Lord your God who
brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. + You shall have no other gods but me.
V. I am the Lord; the Lord is my
name. I will not yield my glory to another, nor my honor to idols. + You shall have ...
Second Reading From The Lord of History by Jean Danielou
If you would only bear with my vanity for a little! Pray be patient with
me; after all, my jealousy on your
behalf is the jealousy of God
himself; I have betrothed you to Christ, so that no other but he should claim you,
his bride without spot. Saint Paul is thinking of the churches he has won for
Christ betrothed to the Lord. His affection for them is anxious, exacting. He
cannot bear any suspicion of infidelity in the engagement; the very thought of
them falling short of their promises to Christ is intolerable to him. As he
says, he is "jealous" of
them; but this quality of mind requires some further elucidation, for the idea
of "jealousy" has
unpleasant associations. Elsewhere in the New Testament, jealousy sometimes stands for the feeling of resentment against any
perfection in others that we ourselves lack; this is certainly one of the
vilest deformities of which human nature is patient. Yet the scriptures also
use the word in quite another meaning, to denote something of great religious
worth, belonging in particular and primarily to God himself.
It is actually stated in the Bible that the very name of the Lord bespeaks jealous love. This terminology is
somewhat disconcerting; but it is simply the vivid presentation of one
attribute of the living God, namely his absolute refusal to tolerate any rival
in human affections. It is important to be accurate here: it is only the
worship due to God alone that he will in no case consent to share; there is no
question of forbidding the indulgence of ordinary human affections in their
proper place. But nothing and no one may trespass upon the exclusive right of
God, his primacy, his unique claim of worship. No creature may ever be treated
as God.
This scriptural use of language derives, of course, from customary usage
in respect of something that is lawful and valuable in human life, and is seen
at its best in the jealous regard
that husbands and wives have for each other, inasmuch as they will have no
intrusion of third parties, or reconcile themselves to any idea that love once
given can ever be withdrawn or transferred. Essentially, that is a noble
attitude of mind, and simply gives expression to the quality of singleness in
human love. Scripture transposes the same attitude of mind into the context of
divine love, because the whole Bible is there to show that the bond between the
Lord and the Israelites, and between Christ and the soul, is also a single,
exclusive and irrevocable union.
Responsory Jer 3:11.20
Come back,
faithless Israel. + No longer will I
frown on you, for my love is unfailing.
V. As a
faithless wife leaves her husband, so have you, Israel, been faithless to me,
says the Lord. + No longer ...
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