You shall love the Lord, your God

TWENTIETH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

August 20, Friday

 

      Against the rather narrow nationalism of Judges and Ezra-Nehemiah the small book of Ruth gives a romantic, idyllic example in Ruth that even non-Jews can become integrated into the Jewish people. Ruth figures even in the genealogy of Jesus.

      At the Last Supper Jesus said: “At this people will know that you are my disciples, that you love one another” (Jn 13:35.) He is speaking not just of any love, but the love by which he loved his disciples, that is, a love that goes to the end, that sets no conditions, that sacrifices everything if necessary for the sake of others. This is the love “with one’s whole heart and mind and soul” and as strong as, or stronger than, self-love, of which today’s gospel speaks. This is a tremendous task that will never end. Is it this kind of love that moves us?

 

First Reading: Ruth 1:1,3-6,14b-16,22

Once upon a time—it was back in the days when judges led Israel— there was a famine in the land. A man from Bethlehem in Judah left home to live in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.

Elimelech died and Naomi was left, she and her two sons. The sons took Moabite wives; the name of the first was Orpah, the second Ruth. They lived there in Moab for the next ten years. But then the two brothers, Mahlon and Kilion, died. Now the woman was left without either her young men or her husband.

One day she got herself together, she and her two daughters-in-law, to leave the country of Moab and set out for home; she had heard that God had been pleased to visit his people and give them food.

Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye; but Ruth embraced her and held on.

Naomi said, “Look, your sister-in-law is going back home to live with her own people and gods; go with her.”

But Ruth said, “Don’t force me to leave you; don’t make me go home. Where you go, I go; and where you live, I’ll live. Your people are my people, your God is my god; where you die, I’ll die, and that’s where I’ll be buried, so help me God—not even death itself is going to come between us!”

And so Naomi was back, and Ruth the foreigner with her, back from the country of Moab. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.

 

Gospel: Matthew 22:34-40

When the Pharisees heard how he had bested the Sadducees, they gathered their forces for an assault. One of their religion scholars spoke for them, posing a question they hoped would show him up: “Teacher, which command in God’s Law is the most important?”

Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.”

 

Prayer

Lord, mighty God,
to a world that is divided
and struggling against dehumanizing forces,
to a Church that is confused
and often discouraged,
you speak a message of hope.
With your grace  call us out of our weary sluggishness,
breathe your Spirit of vigor and love into our dry bones,
that hope may fill our hearts
and love may move us forward
on account of him who came
to make everything new,
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Reflection:

God’s dream for mankind: Love

The question on the greatest commandment – was also a tricky one. For the Jews, the law of Sabbath and its related prescriptions were very important. Perhaps this was the intention of Matthew to set the priorities right in his community, which was mostly composed of Jewish Christians. The Judaisers were arguing for following the numerous Jewish regulations and Matthew addresses the issue by reminding them of the commandment of Love as taught by Jesus. This is the foundation of our life in faith: Love – our love for God and love for neighbour. You cannot love God without loving your neighbour and you cannot love your neighbour without loving God. Our love for our brothers and sisters is the best witness to our love for God. Love shall be the core or the centre of all that we plan, say and do. Our life in faith and our service to our brothers and sisters are inseparable. Our life in prayer and reception of the sacraments cannot be separated from listening to the other, closeness to their lives, especially to their wounds. Remember this: love is the measure of faith. Love of God and love of neighbour are neither two precepts nor formulas. Pope Francis explains this as a glimpse of two faces – the face of the Father and the face of the brother and sister; in fact only one real face: the face of God. God’s face is reflected in the face of each brother and sister, especially of the most fragile, the defenceless and the needy. Because we are created in God’s own image. And we must ask ourselves: when we meet one of these brothers, are we able to recognize the face of God in him? Indeed, we were created to love and to be loved. God, who is Love, created us to make us participants in his life, to be loved by him and to love him, and with him, to love all other people. This is God’s dream for mankind. And to accomplish it we need his grace; we need to receive within us the capacity to love which comes from God himself. Jesus offers himself to us in the Eucharist for this very reason. In the Eucharist we receive Jesus in the utmost expression of his love. Sharing the body of Christ, we participate in this covenant of love – if we fail to love our brethren, our participation in the Eucharist would be meaningless. Today, we have no problem in accepting the priority of love in principle. But sometimes we fail to realise that love of neighbour involves concern for justice, truth, freedom, peace, and concern for the poor.

 

Video available on Youtube: God’s dream for mankind: Love