Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Dan 3, 57 Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord

Daniel

(Dan 3, 57) Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord

[57] Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord, praise and exalt him above all forever.

(CCC 2416) Animals are God's creatures. He surrounds them with his providential care. By their mere existence they bless him and give him glory (Cf. Mt 6:26; Dan 3:79-81). Thus men owe them kindness. We should recall the gentleness with which saints like St. Francis of Assisi or St. Philip Neri treated animals.

Monday, May 30, 2011

Ezek 37, 10-1 I will do it says the LORD

(Ezek 37, 10-14) I will do it says the LORD

[10] I prophesied as he told me, and the spirit came into them; they came alive and stood upright, a vast army. [11] Then he said to me: Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They have been saying, "Our bones are dried up, our hope is lost, and we are cut off." [12] Therefore, prophesy and say to them: Thus says the Lord GOD: O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them, and bring you back to the land of Israel. [13] Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and have you rise from them, O my people! [14] I will put my spirit in you that you may live, and I will settle you upon your land; thus you shall know that I am the LORD. I have promised, and I will do it, says the LORD.

(CCC 703) The Word of God and his Breath are at the origin of the being and life of every creature (Cf. Pss 33:6; 104:30; Gen 1:2; 2:7; Eccl 3:20-21; Ezek 37:10): It belongs to the Holy Spirit to rule, sanctify, and animate creation, for he is God, consubstantial with the Father and the Son.... Power over life pertains to the Spirit, for being God he preserves creation in the Father through the Son (Byzantine liturgy, Sundays of the second mode, Troparion of Morning Prayer).

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Ezek 36, 27-28 I will put my spirit within you

(Ezek 36, 27-28) I will put my spirit within you

[27] I will put my spirit within you and make you live by my statutes, careful to observe my decrees. [28] You shall live in the land I gave your fathers; you shall be my people, and I will be your God.

(CCC 715) The prophetic texts that directly concern the sending of the Holy Spirit are oracles by which God speaks to the heart of his people in the language of the promise, with the accents of "love and fidelity" (Cf. Ezek 11:19; 36:25-28; 37:1-14; Jer 31:31-34; and cf. Joel 3:1-5). St. Peter will proclaim their fulfillment on the morning of Pentecost (Cf. Acts 2:17-21). According to these promises, at the "end time" the Lord's Spirit will renew the hearts of men, engraving a new law in them. He will gather and reconcile the scattered and divided peoples; he will transform the first creation, and God will dwell there with men in peace. (CCC 1287) This fullness of the Spirit was not to remain uniquely the Messiah's, but was to be communicated to the whole messianic people (Cf. Ezek 36:25-27; Joel 3:1-2). On several occasions Christ promised this outpouring of the Spirit (Cf. Lk 12:12; Jn 3:5-8; 7:37-39; 16:7-15; Acts 1:8), a promise which he fulfilled first on Easter Sunday and then more strikingly at Pentecost (Cf. Jn 20:22; Acts 2:1-14). Filled with the Holy Spirit the apostles began to proclaim "the mighty works of God," and Peter declared this outpouring of the Spirit to be the sign of the messianic age (Acts 2:11; Cf. 2:17-18). Those who believed in the apostolic preaching and were baptized received the gift of the Holy Spirit in their turn (Cf. Acts 2:38).

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Ezek 36, 25-26 I will give you a new heart

(Ezek 36, 25-26) I will give you a new heart

[25] I will sprinkle clean water upon you to cleanse you from all your impurities, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. [26] I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you natural hearts.

(CCC 368) The spiritual tradition of the Church also emphasizes the heart, in the biblical sense of the depths of one's being, where the person decides for or against God (Cf. Jer 31:33; Dt 6:5; 29:3; Isa 29:13; Ezek 36:26; Mt 6:21; Lk 8:15; Rom 5:5). (CCC 1432) The human heart is heavy and hardened. God must give man a new heart (Cf. Ezek 36:26-27). Conversion is first of all a work of the grace of God who makes our hearts return to him: "Restore us to thyself, O LORD, that we may be restored!" (Lam 5:21). God gives us the strength to begin anew. It is in discovering the greatness of God's love that our heart is shaken by the horror and weight of sin and begins to fear offending God by sin and being separated from him. The human heart is converted by looking upon him whom our sins have pierced (Cf. Jn 19:37; Zech 12:10): Let us fix our eyes on Christ's blood and understand how precious it is to his Father, for, poured out for our salvation, it has brought to the whole world the grace of repentance (St. Clement of Rome, Ad Cor. 7, 4: PG 1, 224).

Friday, May 27, 2011

Ezek 36, 20-22 I act for the sake of my holy name

(Ezek 36, 20-22) I act for the sake of my holy name

[20] But when they came among the nations (wherever they came), they served to profane my holy name, because it was said of them: "These are the people of the LORD, yet they had to leave their land." [21] So I have relented because of my holy name which the house of Israel profaned among the nations where they came. [22] Therefore say to the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord GOD: Not for your sakes do I act, house of Israel, but for the sake of my holy name, which you profaned among the nations to which you came.

(CCC 2814) The sanctification of his name among the nations depends inseparably on our life and our prayer: We ask God to hallow his name, which by its own holiness saves and makes holy all creation .... It is this name that gives salvation to a lost world. But we ask that this name of God should be hallowed in us through our actions. For God's name is blessed when we live well, but is blasphemed when we live wickedly. As the Apostle says: "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you." We ask then that, just as the name of God is holy, so we may obtain his holiness in our souls (St. Peter Chrysologus, Sermo 71, 4: PL 52:402A; cf. Rom 2:24; Ezek 36:20-22). When we say "hallowed be thy name," we ask that it should be hallowed in us, who are in him; but also in others whom God's grace still awaits, that we may obey the precept that obliges us to pray for everyone, even our enemies. That is why we do not say expressly "hallowed be thy name 'in us,"' for we ask that it be so in all men (Tertullian, De orat. 3: PL 1:1157A).

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Ezek 34, 11-16 I myself will look after and tend my sheep

(Ezek 34, 11-16) I myself will look after and tend my sheep

[11] For thus says the Lord GOD: I myself will look after and tend my sheep. [12] As a shepherd tends his flock when he finds himself among his scattered sheep, so will I tend my sheep. I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered when it was cloudy and dark. [13] I will lead them out from among the peoples and gather them from the foreign lands; I will bring them back to their own country and pasture them upon the mountains of Israel (in the land's ravines and all its inhabited places). [14] In good pastures will I pasture them, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing ground. There they shall lie down on good grazing ground, and in rich pastures shall they be pastured on the mountains of Israel. [15] I myself will pasture my sheep; I myself will give them rest, says the Lord GOD. [16] The lost I will seek out, the strayed I will bring back, the injured I will bind up, the sick I will heal (but the sleek and the strong I will destroy), shepherding them rightly.

(CCC 754) "The Church is, accordingly, a sheepfold, the sole and necessary gateway to which is Christ. It is also the flock of which God himself foretold that he would be the shepherd, and whose sheep, even though governed by human shepherds, are unfailingly nourished and led by Christ himself, the Good Shepherd and Prince of Shepherds, who gave his life for his sheep (LG 6; Cf. Jn 10:1-10; Isa 40:11; Ezek 34:11-31; Jn 10:11; 1 Pet 5:4; Jn 10:11-16).

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Ezek 32, 17-18 Lament over the throngs of Egypt

(Ezek 32, 17-18) Lament over the throngs of Egypt

[17] On the fifteenth day of the first month in the twelfth year, the word of the LORD came to me: [18] Son of man, lament over the throngs of Egypt, for the mighty nations have thrust them down to the bottom of the earth, with those who go down

(CCC 633) Scripture calls the abode of the dead, to which the dead Christ went down, "hell" - Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in Greek - because those who are there are deprived of the vision of God (Cf. Phil 2:10; Acts 2:24; Rev 1:18; Eph 4:9; Pss 6:6; 88:11-13). Such is the case for all the dead, whether evil or righteous, while they await the redeemer: which does not mean that their lot is identical, as Jesus shows through the parable of the poor man Lazarus who was received into "Abraham's bosom" (Cf. Ps 89:49; 1 Sam 28:19; Ezek 32:17-32; Lk 16:22-26): "It is precisely these holy souls, who awaited their Saviour in Abraham's bosom, whom Christ the Lord delivered when he descended into hell" (Roman Catechism 1, 6, 3). Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the just who had gone before him (Cf. Council of Rome (745): DS 587; Benedict XII, Cum dudum (1341): DS 1011; Clement VI, Super quibusdam (1351): DS 1077; Council of Toledo IV (625): DS 485; Mt 27:52-53).

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Ezek 20, 39 House of Israel listen to me

(Ezek 20, 39) House of Israel listen to me

[39] As for you, house of Israel, thus says the Lord GOD: Come, each one of you, destroy your idols! Then listen to me, and never again profane my holy name with your gifts and your idols.

(CCC 2811) In spite of the holy Law that again and again their Holy God gives them - "You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy" - and although the Lord shows patience for the sake of his name, the people turn away from the Holy One of Israel and profane his name among the nations (Ezek 20:9, 14, 22, 39; cf. Lev 19:2). For this reason the just ones of the old covenant, the poor survivors returned from exile, and the prophets burned with passion for the name. (CCC 2812) Finally, in Jesus the name of the Holy God is revealed and given to us, in the flesh, as Savior, revealed by what he is, by his word, and by his sacrifice (Cf. Mt 1:21; Lk 1:31; Jn 8:28; 17:8; 17:17-19). This is the heart of his priestly prayer: "Holy Father… for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be consecrated in truth" (Jn 17:11, 19). Because he "sanctifies" his own name, Jesus reveals to us the name of the Father (Cf. Ezek 20:39; 36:20-21; Jn 17:6). At the end of Christ's Passover, the Father gives him the name that is above all names: "Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil 2:9-11).

Monday, May 23, 2011

Ezek 18, 5-9 If a man is virtuous he shall surely live

(Ezek 18, 5-9) If a man is virtuous he shall surely live

[5] If a man is virtuous - if he does what is right and just, [6] if he does not eat on the mountains, nor raise his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel; if he does not defile his neighbor's wife, nor have relations with a woman in her menstrual period; [7] if he oppresses no one, gives back the pledge received for a debt, commits no robbery; if he gives food to the hungry and clothes the naked; [8] if he does not lend at interest nor exact usury; if he holds off from evildoing, judges fairly between a man and his opponent; [9] if he lives by my statutes and is careful to observe my ordinances, that man is virtuous - he shall surely live, says the Lord GOD.

(CCC 2056) The word "Decalogue" means literally "ten words" (Rom Ex 34:28; Deut 4:13; 10:4). God revealed these "ten words" to his people on the holy mountain. They were written "with the finger of God" (Ex 31:18; Deut 5:22), unlike the other commandments written by Moses (Cf. Deut 31:9-24). They are pre-eminently the words of God. They are handed on to us in the books of Exodus (Cf. Ex 20:1-17) and Deuteronomy (Cf. Deut 5:6-22). Beginning with the Old Testament, the sacred books refer to the "ten words" (Cf. for example Hos 4:2; Jer 7:9; Ezek 18:5-9), but it is in the New Covenant in Jesus Christ that their full meaning will be revealed.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Ezek 14, 14 They could save only themselves

(Ezek 14, 14) They could save only themselves

[14] and even if these three men were in it, Noah, Daniel, and Job, they could save only themselves by their virtue, says the Lord GOD.

(CCC 58) The covenant with Noah remains in force during the times of the Gentiles, until the universal proclamation of the Gospel (Cf. Gen 9:16; Lk 21:24; DV 3). The Bible venerates several great figures among the Gentiles: Abel the just, the king-priest Melchisedek - a figure of Christ - and the upright "Noah, Daniel, and Job" (Cf. Gen 14:18; Heb 7:3; Ezek 14:14). Scripture thus expresses the heights of sanctity that can be reached by those who live according to the covenant of Noah, waiting for Christ to "gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad" (Jn 11:52).

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Ezek 11, 19 I will give them a new heart and a new spirit

(Ezek 11, 19) I will give them a new heart and a new spirit

[19] I will give them a new heart and put a new spirit within them; I will remove the stony heart from their bodies, and replace it with a natural heart,

(CCC 715) The prophetic texts that directly concern the sending of the Holy Spirit are oracles by which God speaks to the heart of his people in the language of the promise, with the accents of "love and fidelity" (Cf. Ezek 11:19; 36:25-28; 37:1-14; Jer 31:31-34; and cf. Joel 3:1-5). St. Peter will proclaim their fulfillment on the morning of Pentecost (Cf. Acts 2:17-21). According to these promises, at the "end time" the Lord's Spirit will renew the hearts of men, engraving a new law in them. He will gather and reconcile the scattered and divided peoples; he will transform the first creation, and God will dwell there with men in peace.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Ezek 9, 4-6 Mark an X on the foreheads

(Ezek 9, 4-6) Mark an X on the foreheads

[4] saying to him: Pass through the city (through Jerusalem) and mark an X on the foreheads of those who moan and groan over all the abominations that are practiced within it. [5] To the others I heard him say: Pass through the city after him and strike! Do not look on them with pity nor show any mercy! [6] Old men, youths and maidens, women and children - wipe them out! But do not touch any marked with the X; begin at my sanctuary. So they began with the men (the elders) who were in front of the temple.

(CCC 1296) Christ himself declared that he was marked with his Father's seal (Cf. Jn 6:27). Christians are also marked with a seal: "It is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has commissioned us; he has put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee" (2 Cor 1:21-22; cf. Eph 1:13; 4, 30). This seal of the Holy Spirit marks our total belonging to Christ, our enrollment in his service for ever, as well as the promise of divine protection in the great eschatological trial (Cf. Rev 7:2-3; 9:4; Ezek 9:4-6).

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Ezek 1, 26-28 The likeness of the glory of the LORD

Ezekiel

(Ezek 1, 26-28) The likeness of the glory of the LORD

[26] Above the firmament over their heads something like a throne could be seen, looking like sapphire. Upon it was seated, up above, one who had the appearance of a man. [27] Upward from what resembled his waist I saw what gleamed like electrum; downward from what resembled his waist I saw what looked like fire; he was surrounded with splendor. [28] Like the bow which appears in the clouds on a rainy day was the splendor that surrounded him. Such was the vision of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. When I had seen it, I fell upon my face and heard a voice that said to me:

(CCC 1137) The book of Revelation of St. John, read in the Church's liturgy, first reveals to us, "A throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne": "the Lord God" (Rev 4:2, 8; Isa 6:1; cf. Ezek 1:26-28). It then shows the Lamb, "standing, as though it had been slain": Christ crucified and risen, the one high priest of the true sanctuary, the same one "who offers and is offered, who gives and is given" (Rev 5:6; Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, Anaphora; cf. Jn 1:29; Heb 4:14-15; 10:19-2). Finally it presents "the river of the water of life… Flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb," one of most beautiful symbols of the Holy Spirit (Rev 22:1; cf. 21:6; Jn 4:10-14).

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Bar 6, 3-4. 63 Gods of silver cannot benefit man

Baruch

(Bar 6, 3-4. 63) Gods of silver cannot benefit man

[3] And now in Babylon you will see borne upon men's shoulders gods of silver and gold and wood, which cast fear upon the pagans. [4] Take care that you yourselves do not imitate their alien example and stand in fear of them. [63] So that it is unthinkable, and cannot be claimed, that they are gods. They can neither execute judgment, nor benefit man.

(CCC 2113) Idolatry not only refers to false pagan worship. It remains a constant temptation to faith. Idolatry consists in divinizing what is not God. Man commits idolatry whenever he honors and reveres a creature in place of God, whether this be gods or demons (for example, satanism), power, pleasure, race, ancestors, the state, money, etc. Jesus says, "You cannot serve God and mammon" (Mt 6:24). Many martyrs died for not adoring "the Beast" (Cf. Rev 13-14) refusing even to simulate such worship. Idolatry rejects the unique Lordship of God; it is therefore incompatible with communion with God (Cf. Gal 5:20; Eph 5:5). (CCC 2114) Human life finds its unity in the adoration of the one God. The commandment to worship the Lord alone integrates man and saves him from an endless disintegration. Idolatry is a perversion of man's innate religious sense. An idolater is someone who "transfers his indestructible notion of God to anything other than God" (Origen, Contra Celsum 2, 40: PG 11, 861).

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Lam 5, 21 O LORD, that we may be restored!

Lamentations

(Lam 5, 21) O LORD, that we may be restored!

[21] Restore us to thyself, O LORD, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old!

(CCC 1432) The human heart is heavy and hardened. God must give man a new heart (Cf. Ezek 36:26-27). Conversion is first of all a work of the grace of God who makes our hearts return to him: "Restore us to thyself, O LORD, that we may be restored!" (Lam 5:21). God gives us the strength to begin anew. It is in discovering the greatness of God's love that our heart is shaken by the horror and weight of sin and begins to fear offending God by sin and being separated from him. The human heart is converted by looking upon him whom our sins have pierced (Cf. Jn 19:37; Zech 12:10): Let us fix our eyes on Christ's blood and understand how precious it is to his Father, for, poured out for our salvation, it has brought to the whole world the grace of repentance (St. Clement of Rome, Ad Cor. 7, 4: PG 1, 224).

Monday, May 16, 2011

Jer 33, 23-26 I will have mercy upon them

(Jer 33, 23-26) I will have mercy upon them

[23] The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: [24] "Have you not observed what these people are saying, `The LORD has rejected the two families which he chose'? Thus they have despised my people so that they are no longer a nation in their sight. [25] Thus says the LORD: If I have not established my covenant with day and night and the ordinances of heaven and earth, [26] then I will reject the descendants of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his descendants to rule over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes, and will have mercy upon them."

(CCC 346) In creation God laid a foundation and established laws that remain firm, on which the believer can rely with confidence, for they are the sign and pledge of the unshakeable faithfulness of God's covenant (Cf. Heb 4:3-4; Jer 31:35-37; 33:19-26). For his part man must remain faithful to this foundation, and respect the laws which the Creator has written into it.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Jer 33, 19-22 The host of heaven cannot be numbered

(Jer 33, 19-22) The host of heaven cannot be numbered

[19] The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: [20] "Thus says the LORD: If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night will not come at their appointed time, [21] then also my covenant with David my servant may be broken, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and my covenant with the Levitical priests my ministers. [22] As the host of heaven cannot be numbered and the sands of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the descendants of David my servant, and the Levitical priests who minister to me."

(CCC 288) Thus the revelation of creation is inseparable from the revelation and forging of the covenant of the one God with his People. Creation is revealed as the first step towards this covenant, the first and universal witness to God's all-powerful love (Cf. Gen 15:5; Jer 33:19-26). And so, the truth of creation is also expressed with growing vigour in the message of the prophets, the prayer of the psalms and the liturgy, and in the wisdom sayings of the Chosen People (Cf. Isa 44:24; Ps 104; Prov 8:22-31).

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Jer 32, 17 Ah Lord GOD! Nothing is too hard for thee

(Jer 32, 17) Ah Lord GOD! Nothing is too hard for thee

[17] Ah Lord GOD! It is thou who hast made the heavens and the earth by thy great power and by thy outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for thee,

(CCC 269) The Holy Scriptures repeatedly confess the universal power of God. He is called the "Mighty One of Jacob", the "LORD of hosts", the "strong and mighty" one. If God is almighty "in heaven and on earth", it is because he made them (Gen 49:24; Isa 1:24 etc.; Pss 24:8-10; 135 6). Nothing is impossible with God, who disposes his works according to his will (Cf. Jer 27:5; 32:17; Lk 1:37). He is the Lord of the universe, whose order he established and which remains wholly subject to him and at his disposal. He is master of history, governing hearts and events in keeping with his will: "It is always in your power to show great strength, and who can withstand the strength of your arm? (Wis 11:21; cf. Esth 4:17b; Prov 21:1; Tob 13:2).

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Jer 32, 10 I signed the deed, sealed it

(Jer 32, 10) I signed the deed, sealed it

[10] I signed the deed, sealed it, got witnesses, and weighed the money on scales.

(CCC 1295) By this anointing the confirmand receives the "mark," the seal of the Holy Spirit. A seal is a symbol of a person, a sign of personal authority, or ownership of an oblect (Cf. Gen 38:18; 41:42; Deut 32:34; CT 8:6). Hence soldiers were marked with their leader's seal and slaves with their master's. A seal authenticates a juridical act or document and occasionally makes it secret (Cf. 1 Kings 21:8; Jer 32:10; Isa 29:11).

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Jer 31, 35-37 The LORD, who gives the sun for light

(Jer 31, 35-37) The LORD, who gives the sun for light

[35] Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar -- the LORD of hosts is his name: [36] "If this fixed order departs from before me, says the LORD, then shall the descendants of Israel cease from being a nation before me for ever." [37] Thus says the LORD: "If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, then I will cast off all the descendants of Israel for all that they have done, says the LORD."

(CCC 346) In creation God laid a foundation and established laws that remain firm, on which the believer can rely with confidence, for they are the sign and pledge of the unshakeable faithfulness of God's covenant (Cf. Heb 4:3-4; Jer 31:35-37; 33:19-26). For his part man must remain faithful to this foundation, and respect the laws which the Creator has written into it.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Jer 31, 34 I will forgive their iniquity

(Jer 31, 34) I will forgive their iniquity

[34] And no longer shall each man teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, `Know the LORD,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."

(CCC 1695) "Justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God" (2 Cor 6:11), "sanctified … (and) called to be saints" (1 Cor 1:2), Christians have become the temple of the Holy Spirit (Cf. 1 Cor 6:19). This "Spirit of the Son" teaches them to pray to the Father (Cf. Gal 4:6) and, having become their life, prompts them to act so as to bear "the fruit of the Spirit" (Gal 5:22, 25) by charity in action. Healing the wounds of sin, the Holy Spirit renews us interiorly through a spiritual transformation (Cf. Eph 4:23). He enlightens and strengthens us to live as "children of light" through "all that is good and right and true" (Eph 5:8, 9). (CCC 580) The perfect fulfilment of the Law could be the work of none but the divine legislator, born subject to the Law in the person of the Son (Cf. Gal 4:4). In Jesus, the Law no longer appears engraved on tables of stone but "upon the heart" of the Servant who becomes "a covenant to the people", because he will "faithfully bring forth justice" (Jer 31:33; Isa 42:3, 6). Jesus fulfils the Law to the point of taking upon himself "the curse of the Law" incurred by those who do not "abide by the things written in the book of the Law, and do them", for his death took place to redeem them "from the transgressions under the first covenant" (Gal 3:13; 3:10; Heb 9:15).

Monday, May 9, 2011

Jer 31, 33 I will be their God and they shall be my people

(Jer 31, 33) I will be their God and they shall be my people

[33] But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

(CCC 715) The prophetic texts that directly concern the sending of the Holy Spirit are oracles by which God speaks to the heart of his people in the language of the promise, with the accents of "love and fidelity" (Cf. Ezek 11:19; 36:25-28; 37:1-14; Jer 31:31-34; and cf. Joel 3:1-5). St. Peter will proclaim their fulfillment on the morning of Pentecost (Cf. Acts 2:17-21). According to these promises, at the "end time" the Lord's Spirit will renew the hearts of men, engraving a new law in them. He will gather and reconcile the scattered and divided peoples; he will transform the first creation, and God will dwell there with men in peace. (CCC 368) The spiritual tradition of the Church also emphasizes the heart, in the biblical sense of the depths of one's being, where the person decides for or against God (Cf. Jer 31:33; Dt 6:5; 29:3; Isa 29:13; Ezek 36:26; Mt 6:21; Lk 8:15; Rom 5:5).