Created for Covenant

The Lord created man out of earth, and turned him back to it again. … He established with them an eternal covenant, and showed them his judgments. (Ecclesiasticus 17:1, 12)

 To be an Easter people is to be a people of the Covenant. During this time of Easter, our mass readings demonstrate the growth of the Catholic church through evangelization. At its core, they are evangelizing salvation. Salvation through Jesus Christ ultimately is an eternal relationship, a continuance of the covenant God had created man for and in. 

Human covenants are made between equals of created persons. In contrast, the bible evidences the covenant of unequals, of Creator with His creature. As such, God Himself does not enter into the covenant for “Covenant is what God does because covenant is who God is.“[i] He brings mankind into covenant with Him. 

The covenant God had with Adam and Eve then extended to include the entire household with Noah. This was enlarged through Abraham to not only include extended family (e.g. saving Lot) but also all purchased slaves, and for all generations throughout time. Relatives and non-relatives alike would be circumcised as this letting of blood shows a giving of their life to God. 

Fast-forward four centuries, and we find ourselves in the time of Moses. The covenant with God has passed down from Abraham’s son Isaac to Jacob (who is renamed Israel) and then to Joseph. Beginning in Egypt in an esteemed position, the Jews now found themselves enslaved and at the mercy of the Egyptians and, in the Exodus, we see God’s fatherly love rise up in a defense of His children that serves to position them to a new height in relation with Him. Here also God extends this covenant to include all bought slaves, hired servants and sojourners who become circumcised, the act of consecration (Ex 12:48-49). 

Several more centuries passed in which, over and over, the people of God turned away from, and then returned to, Him. Raising up the unlikely little David, God makes His covenant with David personally while at the same time extending it to all kingdoms of the earth (Ps 2:8; 72:11); to sojourners and slaves. This expansion was preparation for the next covenant which, through Jesus Christ, would bring salvation to the whole world. 

You shall be holy to me; for I the LORD am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine. (Lev 20:26)

To be holy is to be set apart, and throughout the Old Testament God is telling Israel they are His holy nation (a few: Ex. 19:6; Lev 11:44-45, 19:2, 20:7-8; DEUT 14:21,26:19, 28:9; Chron 16:13; Ps 89; Ecclesiasticus ch 17;) and a holy race (Ez 9:2). Although set apart, they were to bring others into this covenant with God, and the Temple of Jerusalem eventually included the Court of the Gentiles: 

“In addition to the areas reserved to the members of the people of Israel (men, women, priests) in this temple there was a space in which everyone could enter, Jews and non-Jews, circumcised and uncircumcised, members or not of the chosen people, people educated in the law and people who weren’t. Here gathered the rabbis and teachers of the law ready to listen to people’s questions about God, and to respond in a respectful and compassionate exchange.” (Pontifical Council for Culture) [ii]

The giving of their life blood through circumcision was the only consecration they knew. What we see in our mass readings of this Easter time is how this is no longer needed in the new eternal covenant with Jesus for the Spirit of Jesus upon the person is the evidence of their consecration (Acts 15:7-9). 

Go through, go through the gates, prepare the way for the people; build up, build up the highway, clear it of stones, lift up an ensign over the peoples. Behold, the LORD has proclaimed to the end of the earth: Say to the daughter of Zion, “Behold, your salvation comes; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.” And they shall be called The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD; (IS 62:10-12)

God wants every person on earth in this covenant with Him, but to bring people to Him we first must ourselves have that relationship in place. And that involves both knowing the deposit of Truth established by Jesus Himself in the Catholic church, and a personal relationship with Him to which the saints for millennia testify is developed through mental prayer. For it is in this silent prayer that we are disposed and receptive to His Grace which “floods a person’s interiority until the body itself is freed for love. This mysterious power makes chains of selfishness fall away. The ability to do something beautiful for God and one’s neighbor is unlocked.” (Dr. Anthony Lilles) [iii] The opposite is at risk in a life without mental prayer: “Like our physical life, our spiritual life must stay active, or else it will atrophy. A withered spiritual life can have dire eternal consequences. … By moving forward on the spiritual road we grow in our relationship with God, and in our integrity as persons…” (Carolyn Humphreys OCDS) [iv] 

This relationship-building prayer grows our receptivity to God’s sanctifying grace in the sacraments, which purify our hearts so that our works are truly His. Hence, we should continue to pray for our future Pope, all clergy and religious, and the worldwide Church. 

“If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first.

If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own;

but because you do not belong to the world,

and I have chosen you out of the world,

the world hates you.

And they will do all these things to you on account of my name,

because they do not know the one who sent me. (Jn 15: 18-19, 21)

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam 😊

(Image by James Tissot from WikiArt)

[i][i] Scott Hahn, A Father Who Keeps His Promises: God’s Covenant Love in Scripture

[ii] Pontifical Council for Culture http://www.cultura.va/content/cultura/en/dipartimenti/ateismo-e-non-credenza/che-cos-e-il-cortile-dei-gentili–.html

[iii] Dr. Anthony Lilles The Grace that Silence Knows https://beginningtopray.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-grace-that-silence-knows.html  

[iv] Carolyn Humphreys OCDS on Prayer https://www.hprweb.com/2018/04/prayer-as-energy-for-the-road/