Today's First Reading from Deuteronomy is taken from the address delivered by Moses to the tribes of Israel as they are gathered on the hills of Moab, before making their entry to the Promised Land. He has been reminding the Israelites of their previous faithlessness, and here he felt it imperative that they recognise God's great love for them. It was this love that made him choose them out of all humankind to be His own and to give them a second chance with a second covenant.

In this magnificent passage, he extolls God's greatness and love, for which the only response possible was to "circumcise your hearts"(v.16)., and to remember that they were people of one God and one Law. To this very day, practitioners of the Jewish faith never fail to recite the shema, the Jewish profession of faith (Dt.6:4) daily, and to have it printed on parchment to be worn as well as to be placed at their front doors.

This majestic love of God calls for love and charity to be extended to all His creatures, especially to the poor, the needy and the stranger as an expression of total commitment to the one God. As their descendants, we too need to "cling to God"(v.20) i.e. to be absolutely and undividedly loyal to Him.