Cycle A - Year II:

25 October 2020: Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

(Liturgical Color: Green)

Readings:

First Reading: Exodus 22:20-26

Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 1:5-10

Gospel: Please Read Matthew 22:34-40

"Love is the greatest commandment!"

Laws are the very foundation of peace and order in society. But when laws are transgressed by those who are entrusted to safeguard and enforce them, then society is in peril.

We will see a similar situation, more or less, in this Sunday's Gospel incident. The Pharisees wanted to use the law to entrap our Lord Jesus so that they can have Him arrested by the Roman authorities.

The Gospel incident is an encounter between Jesus and a group of Pharisees. Recall that they have been attempting to find a reason to have Jesus arrested but without success. So this time they use a scholar of the law, or a lawyer, to try to entrap Jesus. (This incident tells us that even during the time of Jesus, lawyers may not always be reputable.)

In the Gospel narrative, the lawyer asked Jesus: "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?"

We are familiar with Jesus' answer: "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, will all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Mt 22:37-39)

Thus, Jesus reduces all the laws to just two commandments, "love God", and "love the neighbor". Love is at the heart of the commandments. Love is the heart of personal relationship. So then love is at the core of Christianity. Because the very motivation of Christian behavior is not a law feared due to punishment, but a person loved... the Person of God, the person of the neighbor.

For it was His love for the Father and His love for us human beings that moved the Son of God to enter into our world and took upon Himself the work of our salvation.

When we begin to love, we look at the world around us very differently, we appreciate new things and we make sacrifices that seem small for the sake of the beloved. So that love transforms our lives for the better.

Now a person who genuinely loves God also loves his fellows. Because they are brothers and sisters, children of the same Father, and redeemed by the same precious Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

All our external worship and piety becomes empty and meaningless if it does not express our internal loving attitude. And without such love in our hearts, following or observing God's commandment become burdensome.

For Christians, the heart of our faith is the love of God, which is shown concretely in love for others, especially the poor and the helpless. Love then is the very foundation of our Christian living. We are called to love in an active way by offering the truth and helping others to see it.

In the first reading in Exodus, God will defend those who have no one to protect them. So we must be watchful in how we treat all of God's children.

Also in the second reading, St. Paul tells the Thessalonians to serve God and become a model to all believers as we await the return of His Son.

In sum, Jesus calls us to love each and every person we encounter: the ones we like as well as the individuals we prefer to keep our distance from. Today we strive to keep Jesus' call in our mind and heart. Let us consciously strive to love each and every person we encounter, no matter how we feel about them.

A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!