2017October 29SUN30ORDA

2017October 29SUN30ORDA

EX 22:20-26

Responsorial Psalm PS 18:2-3, 3-4, 47, 51

R. (2) I love you, Lord, my strength.

1 THES 1:5C-10

MT 22:34-40

Good…

Today we celebrate the 3oth Sunday in Ordinary Time A and the Theme of the Readings today is Love as the greatest commandment of our humanity.

In the Gospel today, we continue the polemics between Jesus and the Scribes and Pharisees. Last Sunday we heard about the trap of the Herodians whether it is lawful to give tax to Ceasar or not ? If Jesus answered Yes, it is lawful, the people who are burdened with the tax will dislike him and if Jesus answers No, it is not lawful, Jesus will have problem with the Romans who occupied Jerusalem and needed the Tax for the Wars. Jesus then asked the coin with face and inscription of Caesar and told the Herodians to give to Caesar  what belongs to Caser and to God what belongs to God.

In today’s Gospel  the Pharisees tested again Jesus when they asked: "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" Jesus answer was simple Love God with all your heart, mind and strength, This answer of Jesus comes from the Book of Deuteronomy (Dt 6:5) and the Jesus continued the Second is like it: Love your neighbor as you love yourself. This comes from the Book of Leviticus (Lv 19:9-18). Jesus concluded that Love summarizes  the Law and the Prophets which comprises the Hebrew Bible : the Holy Scripture of the Jews.

This Commandment of Love presents to us our basic humanity that we are made through love and for love that is why we are called to love one another as part of our very nature as human beings.

In the first Reading form the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, we are given the GMRC (Good Manners and Right Conduct) of life. This Conduct of Life is basic in living together in a community with the special preference for the needy and the poor.  Prophet Isaiah mentioned the Four Groups of People that we must be mindful of. The first is the Alien /the Foreigners  for you were once foreigners in Egypt. The Second is the Widows and Orphans , The third is the Poor and the Last is the Neighbor.  Prophet Isaiah proclaims that if these people cry out to the Lord for help, God will hear their cry for He is a Compassionate God. But those who mistreat these people will have their punishments.

In our Society today, we still have the same problems like the problems that Prophet Isaiah mentioned. There is a growing distrust for strangers and foreigners, like the immigrants that is always mentioned in the political circus of our society today. But we have to recall in the recent past that our ancestors were once foreigners in this land. They came to this land which is inhabited by the First Nations to seek a better life just like the present day immigrants who came to seek for a better life.

There is also a growing number of widows and orphans as the result of broken homes and families that is prevalent in our society today.

With these realities in our society, we are called once again to live our Faith  just like how the Thessalonians live their faith with the inspiration of St. Paul who turned away from their idols and serve the true and living God. This is what the Gospel proclaims as the greatest commandment to Love God with all our heart, mind and soul, To make God as the priority of our lives.

When we Love God and Love our neighbor, we orient ourselves beyond ourselves for true love is other oriented. In love, we prioritize our beloved and even sacrifice ourselves for the good of our beloved. And so with this we can see that selfishness is the opposite of Love for selfishness is self-oriented whereas Love is other-oriented. The greatest lesson of love is the example of Jesus who gave his life that we may live. Jesus love is unselfish , Jesus loves us all and now it is our turn to love one another. AMEN.