Scripture readings for this reflection can be found at Friday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time | USCCB
In our gospel for today the Lord responds very clearly
what the is the greatest commandment of the law: Love God with your whole
heart, mind, and soul. He couples this with the second greatest commandment:
love your neighbor as yourself. Love of God and love of neighbor is central to
what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ.
Many of us will have no problem loving God fully.
After all, God is the reason we have life. Life is a gift from God, and we are
to be grateful to him for this gift. But the second part of today’s Gospel, to
love our neighbor as ourselves, that’s where many of us start having problems.
Human nature being what it is, it’s easy to hate or dislike people that get on
our nerves.
Who are these neighbors that the Lord is referring to
in the Gospel? The neighbors the Lord is referring to are more than just those
living next door to us. Our neighbors are all those people we have in our
lives: our family, friends, co-workers, and those people we encounter during
our day-to-day routines. It’s not always easy to love these people that God has
placed in our lives. Our family members, for example, that know us the best,
can be the most difficult to love. These family members are quick to press our
buttons when they see that we are not living our lives as they feel we should.
But we are to respond to them with love. We are called by Jesus to love
everyone, without exception. Further, those people that we encounter at work
that are difficult to even like, we are called to love. We must remember that
these are all people that are made in the image and likeness of God.
In the first letter of John, chapter 4, verse 20, we
read: “If anyone says, ‘I love
God, but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother
whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.” This sums up what
our Lord is teaching in today’s Gospel.
We need to remember
that as we encounter people throughout our days, we are also encountering God.
We are to treat everyone we meet with the same love and respect that we would
give to the Lord Jesus Christ if we encountered him during our journey
throughout the day. In Matthew, chapter 25, we hear Jesus teach about the Judgement of the Nations, and in verse 40, the Lord says, “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.” So,
as we meet people in daily routine, we are to show them the same love and
respect that we would show the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us this day pray to the Lord God asking Him for
the strength to continue to love not only Him, with our whole heart, souls and
mind, but to also love our neighbor as ourselves.
From Arlene B. Muller
ReplyDeleteI think it is easy to say we love GOD & all of us who call ourselves CHRISTIANS & even many NON-CHRISTIANS, especially our Jewish brothers & sisters, truly love GOD. Each of us loves GOD in his/her own way & most of us are probably sincere.
The question & challenge is this: Do we REALLY love GOD with our WHOLE HEART, our WHOLE SOUL, our WHOLE MIND, & our WHOLE STRENGTH, placing GOD above everyone & everything in our lives 24/7? Do we trust Him in every area of our lives, no matter what is happening in our lives? Oops! If I am honest with myself I believe that I love GOD & that GOD is CENTRAL in my life, but I can see where I fall short. I consider myself very committed to serving GOD & keeping Him as the center but I am too afraid to give Him an unconditional surrender. I must honestly admit I have set some limits & boundaries that I haven't given the LORD permission to cross & would rather keep it that way, even though I acknowledge He is GOD & has every right to do so. I imagine that reaching that place where we love GOD totally 24/7 without condition could take a lifetime, & the people who have fully achieved this level of loving GOD totally & perfectly are the people we acknowledge as saints.
And, YES, trying to see CHRIST in every person we encounter (a lot easier with some people than with others)--something St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta exemplified--would be a good way to help us love our neighbor as ourselves & even to approach fulfilling the "new commandment" Our LORD gave us on the night before He died, as written in the GOSPEL of St. John: "LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS I HAVE LOVED YOU."