FORTY THIRD ANNUAL
FAST FOR THE TRUTH OF
GOSPEL NONVIOLENCE
(July 1–August 9)
FAST FOOD AD 2025: Thirtieth Helping
Now that we know from the previous FAST FOOD Helping (29) that “war” in the Old Testament means earthly war and that the Israelites had their God of war like the other tribes, groups and countries, Israel’s God,Yahweh, was among other things their “Warrior God” who it was believed partook in battles in earthly wars on the side of Israel. Yahweh Sabaoth was the guiding and active God of Israel’s armies, which like all armies killed and maimed people in large numbers of wars for centuries.
Yahweh Sabaoth, Lord God of Armies or Lord God of Host, is a very common name referenced to God in Hebrew Scriptures, appearing 270 times in the Old Testament. It never is used by Jesus and never appears in the Gospels. In the New Testament, it is only employed once in the book of James (5:4). It also is seen in Paul’s Epistle to the Romans (9:29), but only within a direct quotation from Isaiah. It was added to the Mass, the Eucharist, in the Fifth Century, after the Fourth Century Constantinian justification of war had taken place in the Church, and has never been removed. However, Catholic and Protestant Churches have attempted to delete it from Christian liturgy by translating Sabaoth, as the universal English translation of Novus Ordo of the Catholic Mass translated it from 1969 to 2011,”God of power and might.” Some Protestant Churches tried the same approach by translating Sabaoth as “God Almighty.” Both translations are literally incorrect but manifest the grave concern regarding implicitly equating the God that Jesus reveals as the Father of all with the activities and way of the God of armies, the warrior God of the Jews in the Old Testament.
“Holy, Holy, Holy.Lord God of armies, (Yahweh Sabaoth or host)
heaven and earth are filled with your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.”
What possible reason is there for Catholics within the context of the re-presentation of the love, suffering and death of Jesus in the Eucharist, or in any context, to be praising Yahweh Sabaoth, Lord God of armies, Lord God of host with words such as “Heaven and earth are full of your glory?” Heaven and earth are not filled with the glory of the “God of armies,” the “Warrior God” of Israel. They are filled with the Glory of the “God who made heaven and earth and without whom nothing would have been made” (Jn1:1-5), namely, the Eternal Word of God who is love (agape), the Eternal Word of the Father of all “made flesh,” Jesus.
The Hebrew word “Hosanna,” means “save,” “rescue, I pray.” It is a cry for Divine help. In the Gospels upon Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday it is employed as a shout of jubilation and praise in recognition of Jesus as the Messiah who has come to save. But, the “Hosanna” in the Sanctus of the Eucharist is directed specifically to “Yahweh Sabaoth,” “God of armies,” or “God of host,” whose glory fills heaven and earth and who has saved Israel in its wars in the past and will save Israel in it wars in the future. To the God of armies and not to Jesus is the first “Hosanna” of the Sanctus directed.
Finally “Holy, Holy, Holy, Yahweh Sabaoth,” is just plain wrong if Jesus is who the Gospels say He is. Therefore it has no place in any Christian prayer or liturgy. An army is an organized violent and homicidal military force trained and equipped to fight and kill an enemy on land. Jesus, God incarnate and the definitive revelation of the nature and will of God, imperatively communicates by His words and by His deeds that the will of the Holy One is to “Love your enemies.” Armies do not love their enemies. They kill them and maim them. The God of armies does not communicate “Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you, etc.” as the Divine will. Such a god communicates the direct opposite of what Jesus taught. This means for the Christian, the god of armies and warrior god are false Gods,humanly made gods, idols and to follow them and obey them is idolatry. To call them “Holy, Holy, Holy” is blasphemy and idolatry in triplicate. For a Christian to pray to and praise and choose to follow the god of armies rather than Jesus, who is the Incarnation of God who is love is temporally and possibly eternally tragic.
“There is no notion of a warrior God who will lead the people in an historical victory over its enemies in the New Testament.”
Challenge of Peace: A Pastoral Letter on War and Peace, National Conference of Catholic Bishops, May 3,1983
Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of Love or Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Father of all, is what is truly and authentically Holy, is the Glory that fills heaven and earth and is GOD WHOM WE SHOULD BE PRAYING TO, CRYING OUT TO, AS WELL AS, JUBILANTLY SHOUTING OUT TO IN SURE AND CERTAIN HOPE, “HOSANNA IN THE HIGHEST !“
-Emmanuel Charles McCarthy
www.emmanuelcharlesmccarthy.org
https://www.youtube.com/@emmanuelcharlesmccarthy3292
“Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Love.
Heaven and earth are full of Your glory!
Hosanna in the highest!
Blessed is He, Who comes in the Name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest!”
