Cycle B - Year I:  

31 October 2021: Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time 

(Liturgical Color: Green)

Readings:

First Reading:        Deuteronomy 6:2-6

Second Reading:   Hebrews 7:23-28

Gospel:  Please Read  Mark 12:28-34 

Love as the foundation of Christian living!

In the beginning.... human life was simple guided only by Natural Laws that come from God's Providence.  Human beings came up with laws and more laws to govern and regulate human living. So we end up with batteries of laws that some are hardly observed or outdated.

The Gospel narrative this Sunday has something to do with laws or commandments. Let us reflect on God's message for us this week.

One of the scribes engages our Lord Jesus Christ in a discussion and asks Him what is the most important of God's commandments.  Now, a scribe knows the law himself but perhaps this scribe in the Gospel narrative wants Jesus to confirm his own understanding of the Law.

Our Lord's answer was brief but very profound, which is actually a summary of everything that our Lord teaches on God and His life.

Jesus points out that in fact the whole Law can be condensed in just two commandments of love: the first, and most important, consists of unconditional love of God: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength." (Mk 12:30)    

The second commandment is a consequence and the result of the first: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."  (Mk. 12:31)  The word "neighbor" here means whoever is in need.   

Now, the summary of the Law means that behind all these commandments is a life of love that God demands from His people, meaning to say, our love of God must show itself concretely in the love for our neighbor.  For love of neighbor springs from our love of God because man is created in the image of God.

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

That is why, our external worship and piety becomes empty and meaningless if it does not express our internal loving attitude. And without such love, even following the rest of God's commandments becomes burdensome.  And so we may say that the practice of love is more important than novenas, promises, sermons and processions.  Because our Christian life rests on the foundation of love of God and of neighbor.  

The second point in our reflection is this:  in the Old Testament the criterion of love of neighbor was: "Love your neighbor as yourself."  But in the New Testament our Lord Jesus Christ extends the sense of love: "This is my commandment: love one another as I have loved you!" (Jn 15:12)  Thus, the new criterion will be "love your neighbor as Jesus has loved us!"  And this is the sure path to being able to live together in a more just and fraternal way.  

For us new generation of disciples, we should keep this Law of love in our mind, in our intelligence, in our heart, in our hands and feet, because one cannot reach God without giving oneself totally to one's neighbor!  In other words, LOVE is the very foundation  of our Christian life.

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

Ad Jesum per Mariam!