30th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Fr. Vinner)
LOVE OF GOD & NEIGHBOR
My Sisters & Brothers in Christ,
When we say that something is most important, it implies that everything else is less important — and not just as a matter of opinion, but in reality. In Jesus’ time there was a school of thought that said that all 613 commandments of the Old Testament were equally binding. They all had been commanded by God and he expected us to obey all of them completely. Today Jesus is saying that the love of God and neighbor must be the foundation of all other laws — moral, social, religious and governmental.
The first reading is taken from the Book of Exodus 22:20-26. These verses cover the Israelites’ duties toward strangers (non-Israelites), widows and orphans and the poor in general. They are a practical application of the law of charity in their dealings with their neighbors. The second reading is from the first Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians 1:5c-10. St. Paul continues to praise the Thessalonians, not only for accepting the faith in difficult circumstances, but for the wonderful example their Christian life had already given to most of Greece.
The Gospel is from Matthew 22:34-40. The Pharisees may not have had evil intentions when asking Christ the question as to the greatest commandment. But they have done us a good service by getting this crystal clear answer from him. In this answer he tells us that the man who loves God and neighbor fulfills all his obligations, and carries out all the duties that God’s self-revelation in “the law and the prophets” imposes on him. God revealed himself to us in the Old Testament as our Creator and divine benefactor. He had no need of us, since he is infinitely perfect in himself, but out of his infinite goodness he wished to share his eternal kingdom of happiness with mankind and so he created us. That we should love such a benefactor and be grateful to him is not asking much of us; such love should surely be the spontaneous reaction of a rational being, and yet there were and there are many who fail to acknowledge any such obligation.
One Sunday the pastor was finishing up a series on marriage. At the end of the service he was giving out small wooden crosses to each married couple. He said, “Place this cross in the room in which you fight the most and you will be reminded of God’s commandment of love and you won’t argue as much.” One woman came up after the service and said, “You’d better give me five crosses.”
Where Christians can, and too often do fail, is in their true love of neighbor. Yet Christ says that this commandment is like the first. Love of neighbor is an essential part of our obligations toward God. If we fail in this we fail in our love for God, for we refuse to carry out this sacred duty. If we do not recognize our neighbor as our brother, we do not recognize God as our Father and we do not love him. As St. John puts it: “Anyone who says ‘I love God’ and hates (does not love) his neighbor is a liar” (1 Jn.3: 20). Let each one of us ask himself today how seriously he takes this law of fraternal charity and how faithfully he carries it out. Not all of us may be able to give material help to a neighbor in need but the poorest of us can spare a kindly word, an encouraging word, for a neighbor weighed down with cares and troubles. All of us can pray for a neighbor who needs spiritual and temporal help. COMING TO OUR LIFE, WE NEED TO LOVE GOD. Loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, means that we should place God’s will ahead of ours, seek the Lord’s will in all things and make it paramount in our lives. There are several means by which we can express our love for God and our gratitude to Him for His blessings, acknowledging our total dependence on Him. We must keep God’s Commandments, and offer daily prayers of thanksgiving, praise and petition. We also need to read and meditate on His word in the Bible, and accept His invitation to join Him in the Mass and other liturgical functions.
WE NEED TO LOVE OUR NEIGHBOR, God’s will is that we should love everyone, seeing Him in our neighbor. Since every human being is the child of God and the dwelling place of the Spirit of God, we are actually giving expression to our love of God by loving our neighbor as Jesus loves him or her. This means we need to help, support, encourage, forgive, and pray for everyone without discrimination based on color, race, religion, gender, age wealth or social status. Forgiveness, too, is vital. We love others by refusing to hold a grudge for a wrong done to us. Even a rebuke can be an act of love, if it is done with the right heart. We also express love through encouragement and by helping others to grow. We express agápe love in meeting the needs of others by using the talents and blessings that God has given us, by comforting each other, by teaching each other and by sharing the Gospel, in deeds and in words.
May God Bless us.
FR.S.Vinner HGN