“... It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. They broke my covenant, though I was their master—oracle of the LORD.” (Jeremiah 31:32.)
Saint Augustine of Hippo comments on this verse from the Gospel proclaimed during today’s Mass:
“But I,” he says, “hold on to what God handed over to Moses.” Listen to what God says through the prophet. What is God telling Jeremiah? “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, I will confirm on the house of Jacob a new covenant.” Leave the old aside, take up the new, and you can see that you ought to leave aside circumcision, and unleavened bread taken literally, and the sabbath taken literally and the sacrifices taken literally. Listen to how the new covenant is promised: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, I will confirm for them a new covenant, not like the covenant that I gave to their ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt,” when the law of commandments was given, when the people were led through the desert. It is not like that that I will give the new covenant. So do not go on wearing the old tunic. That was what crucified Christ. Your parent crucified him; you hate him. He by his own hand, you in your heart, both of you have carried out the crime. Therefore be displeased with what your parent did, and listen to what your Lord has done.” (Sermon 196)
Collect
By Your help, we beseech You, Lord our God,
may we walk eagerly in that same charity
with which, out of love for the world,
Your Son handed Himself over to death.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
may we walk eagerly in that same charity
with which, out of love for the world,
Your Son handed Himself over to death.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen
