I thought that the Old Covenant was abrogated or superceded by Our Lord’s coming, implying since then Judaism has not been a saving religion, despite having the unique position of being a non-Catholic religion of divine revelation.
Wouldn’t that mean that Catholics are not allowed to worship with Jews, just like we are not allowed to worship with say, Protestants?
I can’t reconcile what you’re saying with any Catechism teaching I’ve read.
The teaching of the Church is that the Covenant has been fulfilled, not abrogated. There is a significant difference. If the Covenant were abrogated, we would have throw out many things that we keep from Judaism, starting with Scriptures, Commandments, liturgy, history and many other customs and practices.
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839 “Those who have not yet received the Gospel are related to the People of God in various ways.”
The relationship of the Church with the Jewish People. When she delves into her own mystery, the Church, the People of God in the New Covenant, discovers her link with the Jewish People, “the first to hear the Word of God.” The Jewish faith, unlike other non-Christian religions, is already a response to God’s revelation in the Old Covenant. To the Jews “belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ”, “for the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.”
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The issue is one of wording. Jesus himself is very clear, “I have not come to do away with the covenant. I have come to fulfill it.” Jesus is the fulfillment of the Covenant.
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581 The Jewish people and their spiritual leaders viewed Jesus as a rabbi. He often argued within the framework of rabbinical interpretation of the Law. Yet Jesus could not help but offend the teachers of the Law, for he was not content to propose his interpretation alongside theirs but taught the people “as one who had authority, and not as their scribes”. In Jesus, the same Word of God that had resounded on Mount Sinai to give the written Law to Moses, made itself heard anew on the Mount of the Beatitudes. Jesus did not abolish the Law but fulfilled it by giving its ultimate interpretation in a divine way: “You have heard that it was said to the men of old. . . But I say to you. . .” With this same divine authority, he disavowed certain human traditions of the Pharisees that were “making void the word of God”.**
However, since God makes covenants with people, even though the Covenant has been fulfilled, it does not mean that everyone knows it, understands how this is so, or can honestly wrap their head around it, because of a number of complicated differences between Judaism and Christianity. The two most important being the concept of Incarnation and the Trinity. Once a Jew can get past that, the rest is much easier. The covenant with those people remains in place until they have come to see that it has been fulfilled.
For this reason, the Catholic Church discourages Catholics from trying to convert Jews and encourages Catholics to invite Jews to come and see without any pressure. In God’s good time, every Jewish person will come to the realization that Christ is the fulfillment of the Covenant and that what Catholics call the New Covenant is really no new as much as it is the fulfillment of what was promised to our fathers.
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2577 From this intimacy with the faithful God, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, Moses drew strength and determination for his intercession. He does not pray for himself but for the people whom God made his own. Moses already intercedes for them during the battle with the Amalekites and prays to obtain healing for Miriam. But it is chiefly after their apostasy that Moses “stands in the breach” before God in order to save the people. The arguments of his prayer - for intercession is also a mysterious battle - will inspire the boldness of the great intercessors among the Jewish people and in the Church: God is love; he is therefore righteous and faithful; he cannot contradict himself; he must remember his marvelous deeds, since his glory is at stake, and he cannot forsake this people that bears his name.
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The problem is with the terms New and Old. It’s more a problem with English than it is in other languages wee the old covenant is not called this. For example, in Spanish, the traditional term is the ancient covenant. Today, many Spanish speakers, because of the influence of English use old and ancient interchangeably. But that was not always the case. Ancient is probably a much better word.
If we look at the God Friday liturgy, it prays that the Jewish people will come to the realization that Jesus is the Messiah. It does not rule out their salvation within the Jewish faith.
As to why we do not workshop with Jews on a regular basis though we may do so for special occasions, since none of their worship is heretical. On the contrary, it’s all very biblical. There is a very good reason. There is nothing in the Jewish liturgy that is not always present in Catholic liturgy. However, there is something missing in Jewish liturgy. That is the sacrifice of Christ. It would be an incomplete form of worship. Incomplete is not synonymous with bad. If I have three tires, I have an incomplete set. However, the three tires that I have a perfectly good. I’m still short one.
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It’s an occasion to remember the blessings that we received during the previous year and an opportunity to ask for more blessings during the upcoming year. In fact, it has been modern society that has dropped the ball on the true meaning of New Year celebrations in both Jewry and Christianity. Both Jews and Christians have become so secularized that we have forgotten why we even celebrate New Year’s Eve.
Ethnicity doesn’t really matter in religion, and I don’t think it should. I mean, didn’t St. Paul say that (paraphrasing here) “In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek?”