In Deuteronomy, we hear how Torah shapes listening, speaking and acting. Listen to the Shema,
4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.[1]
The first response of Israel to the Lord is “Hear.” Hearing gives way to loving, living, teaching. The parent resounds the call of the Lord to their children, and in turn, the children resound the call to their children. Torah shapes our speech. By rehearsing the Word of the Lord, the people of God learn how to speak, how to articulate life and wisdom and love in the world. Just as a child mimics her mother in learning to speak, the children of the Lord learn how to speak by mimicng, rehearsing His Word.
This rehearsing, this sounding out, changes us. Train us in listening, speaking and acting. St. Hilary offers a helpful prayer asking for grace to speak the articulate word,
‘Almighty God, bestow upon us the meaning of words, the light of understanding, the nobility of diction, and the faith of the true nature. And grant that what we believe we may also speak.’ – St.Hilary, The Trinity (de Trinitate, PL 10, 49)
[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2001 (Dt 6:4–8). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
Image from hoveringdog on Flickr (used by Creative Commons)
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