soul

Looking at the first reading for this coming Sunday, October 25, 2020, I see again that the Shema begins with an admonishment to holiness. Before there is even a command to love God or your neighbor there is the invitation, be holy, for God is holy and you are the people of God. 

Well how about it? What does that mean?

It means love in action. It means knowledge that we can act upon (actionable knowledge) : knowing that God loves us - first - gives us call to respond to that inexorable love with our own inadequate but willing and blessed love in turn.

It means embodied faithfulness. That is, not just words, "Lord, Lord" - but deeds. Love in action. 

Our faith in God, our steadfast love (chesed), is shown in how we live and how we pray and how we treat one another (and ourselves). So to love your God with all your heart and all your mind and all your strength, as Jesus summarizes the law, is to embody that first loyalty in how we choose to live.

 As is pointed out more frequently these days that means not just individual but collective choices, and individual choices that feed the common good. 

Wearing a mask during the COVID-19 pandemic is an action for the common good; it is embraced faithfulness. The mask protects those around me, pretty well, along with the other precautions - social distancing, frequent hand washing, testing and tracing and treating  ... it is not for me alone.

So much for rugged individualism! We need to work together, with God and our neighbor, for the love of God and neighbor and self... that is how embodied faithfulness works.