30th Sunday of Ordinary Times
...As the Central Meaning of Life.
Readings for:30th Sunday of Ordinary Times, Year A
Reading 1 Exodus 22:20-26
Psalm Psalm 18:2-3, 3-4, 47, 51
Reading 2 1 Thessalonians 1:5c-10
Gospel Matthew 22:34-40
REFLECTIONS:… from Father Daniel
Theme of the Sunday:The Whole Law is Summarized in Love.Christian catechism is not difficult, it can all be learnt in one lesson. IF we obey the commandment of love we fulfill the whole law. The rest is just comment and explanation. This is the message we learn from the Gospel today. The first reading applies this commandment to our less fortunate brothers and sisters, strangers, orphans, and widows. The second reading is linked to this theme; it gives the example of the early Christian communities who obeyed the law of love.
The key insight of today’s Gospel is Jesus’ combination of two commandments as the central meaning of life. He placed love of neighbor alongside love of God. This insight, though not unique to Jesus, was one of the abiding principles of his life and teaching: Love of God (Dt 6:5) and love of one’s neighbor (Lev 19:18) form an inseparable unity. Love for God commands us to love and serve God. Worship is an important part of our love for God. Keeping holy the Lord’s Day is our way of recognizing God’s dominion over us and expressing the gratitude we owe him. Loving our neighbor, even the ones we don’t like, means taking their needs seriously.
Giving love and receiving love between God and ourselves and between God and others have proven to be ways to live a joyful and healthy life. In a psychology study on human development, babies who have had to remain in a hospital and have had perfect care, but had no one to love them or cuddle them, died at a far faster rate than babies who were not starved of affection. Let me say love is essential to our physical and emotional well-being and love is our primary calling as followers of Christ. The teacher had been giving a lecture on modern inventions. “Can any of you” She asked, “ tell me something of importance that did not exist fifty years ago?” Exclaimed one lad in the front row; “ME!”(illustrating the point that you are the most important human being in the world - to yourself) St. Theresa of the little flower said, “ When I act and think charitably, I feel it is Jesus working in me; the deeper my union with him, the stronger my love for the residents of Carmel."
