On Thursday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time our Church invites us to read and reflect on a passage from the beginning of the book of Deuteronomy (30: 1-20) entitled “The promise of forgiveness after the exile”. Our treasure, which follows, is from a sermon by John the Serene, bishop.
Saint John IV called the Peacemaker, or the Serene is known in Italian as Giovanni Scriba. He was the Bishop of Naples from 26 February 842 until his death on December 17, 849. He is one of the patron saints of Naples where his feast day is celebrated on June 22. St. John had the relics of Aspren translated to the church of Santa Restituta in Naples. He also assisted Duke Andrew II in negotiating an economic treaty called the Pactum Sicardi with Sicard, the Lombard Prince of Benevento. He is generally regarded as a Father of the Church, being one of very last so considered.
The book of Deuteronomy ends the five books of the Torah or Pentateuch with a retrospective account of Israel’s past—the exodus, the Sinai covenant, and the wilderness wanderings—and a look into Israel’s future as they stand poised to enter the land of Canaan and begin their life as a people there.
The book consists of three long addresses by Moses. Each of these contains narrative, law, and exhortation, in varying proportions. In an expansion of the first commandment of the decalogue, Moses tells the Israelites how to make a success of their life as a people once they are settled in the land. The choice presented to Israel is to love the Lord and keep his commandments, or to serve “other gods.” That choice will determine what kind of life they will make for themselves in the land. Whichever choice they make as a people carries consequences, which Deuteronomy terms “blessing” and “curse.” Thus, the book can be seen as a kind of survival manual for Israel in their life as a people: how to live and what to avoid. This gives the book its hortatory style and tone of life-or-death urgency.