The days of Awe are coming. They come in the month of Tishrei which is the seventh month, also called the Sabbath month. There are a total of 13 days that we celebrate or do something special and there is a total of seven Sabbath days in which no work should be done. And just as we need to prepare for the Sabbath by cleaning our houses and getting our hearts prepared, we need to clean our lives, our hearts, and our behavior for the most Holy Days of Awe. Yes, the Sabbath month is approaching, so sound the shofar and say the special prayers for the Day of the L-rd is near.
We feel in these times that Elul (or their sister time in Catholicism we call Lent) should hold a special place of significance for all the children of Elohei. We live in uncertain times and an ill wind seems to be blowing for our nation and our world. If we are to change the world, we must do it one person at a time, starting with ourselves. This is what the Days of Awe are about.
A priest once gave a very good analogy for this time of cleaning (although he was talking of Lent). He reminded us of a Peanuts cartoon in which on a very cold day, one of Charlie Brown’s friends dressed in many layers before he headed out to play, but when he tried to go through the doorway he had too much on and couldn’t get through. In the same way we put ourselves at risk by putting too much on so we can not pass through the narrow gate. Remember that Christ tells us that the true path is the narrow way (Matt.7.13-14). So we need to realize what burdens us and what do we carry as a security blanket. What earthly roads, weeds or stones block Yeshua’s Words from taking root in our lives and keep us stuck in the doorway of the gate (Matt.13.18-23)? This is the time to take stock in these things because in just four short weeks the Book of Life will be open for a very short time.
But there is another perspective of this time coming from the Word:
“Then the kingdom of heaven shall be compared to ten maiden who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamp. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Behold, the Bridegroom! Come out and meet Him.’ ” (Matt.25.1-6)
Most people are familiar with this parable of the ten maidens. One group, the wise, bring oil with their lamps while the others, the foolish, bring nothing but their lamps. The lamp represents G-d’s Word which we hear in Church each week and which we glean from our own study of His Bible (See Ps.119.105, and Pr.6.23). Both appear to have brought the Word with them as they traveled to meet the Bridegroom. But the foolish failed to bring anything to light the Word within their hearts. It is faith (Gal.3.6) that shed light on the Word of HaShem. It is this personal relationship through the Ruach HaKaDosh that HaMoshiach eluded to in John 16.13 at the last supper and also to the woman at the well in John.4.19-23. The Church can only point the way; we must choose to takes those steps ourselves, or (G-d forbid) we turn away.
Can you have a relationship with anyone without communication? Yes, it’s possible that someone can tell you all about another person, but that doesn’t give us the relationship we seek. We need to go to that person face to face and communicate directly. What is true with us is also true in our relationship with HaShem. Think of how many times you talk to G-d. If you want a close relationship you have to take the time to talk to Him in prayer and spend your time listening to Him when He talks to you. He talks to us through His Word, through His prophets, through the mass, through the Sacrament of Confession and through dreams and visions. What way does He speak to you? How do you know if you have offended Him and need to set things right? Reconciling ourselves to HaShem is so very important if we are to speak to Him. This is why those who keep the traditions of our ancestors frequently seek out Confession during this time. Our sins separate us from HaShem and if we desire to receive His correction, we must be open to hear Him. This is why HaShem called us to keep the Days of Awe, so we could return and repent. Also we have the added benefit to improve our hearing of Him, thus bring us closer to Him over all.
The Catholic Church defines sin by venial and mortal. Mortal sin is a willful disobedience against HaShem (#1857 of The Catechism of the Catholic Church (c) 1993). This is where one doesn't care what G-d thinks or just disobeys Him in anger or hate (ibib.1859). We believe that an example of this kind of sin was when Saul went to a medium to call up the Samuel from the dead, 1 Sam.8-25. In the case of Saul, Samuel made it clear that Saul was damned (1.Sam.28.16-19). Still our Church also teaches that even with Mortal sin one can be forgiven if one repents from their sin and seeks the Sacrament of Reconciliation for healing.
Unintentional ignorance however can remove the gravity of a sin, this includes strong passions and fears, (ibib.1860). In this case the person is considered guilty of a venial sin, even though the sin maybe grave. Venial sin is a sin of weakness or ignorance, that is their heart was not against G-d when they committed them. What we feel is a good example would be when David sinned with Bathsheba and had Uriah killed in battle, 2 Sam.11-12. Please note that David’s sin was not little- for both adultery and murder are called capital sins by our Church and are usually considered mortal sins. However even our Catechism shows that a grave sin can be considered venial if it is done out of passion, weakness or ignorance which we believe David’s sins were. As we read Scripture, we see that David is taken up by a passion when he sees Bathsheba and brings her to him to lay with her. Of course she conceives and David’s concern is to hide this adulterous act of his; so he tries everything he could to get Uriah to lay with his wife, but proves fruitless. Out of desperation, he arranges it so that Uriah is killed in the battle. If indeed a mortal sin, it would seem to us that David would have opted to kill him outright rather than through manipulation. This does not lessen the severity of the crime/sin, but only that his heart was not intentionally for murdering Uriah. For us, this makes sense that HaShem kept David in high regard, yet it did not stop the series of events set off by David’s sin, the loss of his newborn son and the seeds he planted of his own kingdom’s fall after Solomon, 2 Sam.12.14. Another example would be when Jonathan eats honey on the way to battle even though Saul pledged to HaShem that no one would eat anything. Jonathan was found innocent in heaven because no one told him of his father’s pledge.
It’s venial sins we are to rid ourselves during the Days of Awe because if one is truly in HaMoshiach they are considered incapable of mortal sins. But venial sins, as explained with David, are not less serious sins, just not damning sins. All sins place a wall between us and our Father and causes great harm to those around us (ibib. 1863). So, if we truly love Him, we will do everything we can to remove what separates us from His love and the hurt we do to His children, our brothers. The Church does call us to keep this season every Lent, therefore do Catholics need another such season as this?
Our Church tells us that all Her traditions came through the Ruach HaKadosh and this we know is true. In fact HaShem demands that His children spend forty days in repentance and prayer and His Church responded, but placed these days in the spring- “These Forty Days of Lent, Oh L-rd . . .”, except Resurrection Sunday (Easter) is coming and we’ve got flowers to buy and do this and that. . . (what a distraction from what we are called to do). As we explained in the Wineskins, “the old is better” than the new because it possesses greater depth and it foreshadows far better the time to come. As you learn about the fall holidays you’ll begin to see what we mean. In the fall, we don’t abstain from food for many days- just one, but we eat less and during the last ten days we eat very little because food preparation and consumption distracts us from our important work and we are called to “afflict ourselves” on that last day (lest HaShem afflict us). The shofar is blown from the first day of Elul until the final Days of Awe and it cries out mournfully to remind us that we are called to be wHolly His! Note that the Shofar has been used to call out to the Holy nation to prayer, but it also warns the nation of impending war or danger. And with this first mournful cry to the very last, it cries out a warning to our immortal soul: “The Bridegroom is coming like a thief in the night. Are you ready or will you be left out in the dark behind the door?”
Is it wrong to have more than one time of soul preparation so we can be with our L-rd and Savior? Before you say it’s not needed, realize that the Church also has us prepare during Advent (those three purple-penitent candles), except that we are again are distracted for Christmas shopping, and parties and . . .
“And no one after drinking old wine desires new; for he says ‘The old is better.” Lk.5
