The WORD
today (see http://usccb.org/bible/readings/102917.cfm)
reminds me that I should live my love for God through others.
Saying and doing are two
different things. Words and actions are two
different things. Saying we love God is different from actually
living like we do. Saying we love God is different from actually loving God.
In the gospel, we see the two
greatest commandments. Pretty simple, but tough. First is of course, love God
with all that we have. God deserves our best. God deserves our all. He gave us
everything, and we should give him back everything. We should love him with
everything we have, with everything we can. He deserves nothing less.
The Second is to love
others. Jesus did not stop at the first. he did not say that we
should just love God, and we’re all set. Love for God should be greater than
lip service. Love for God should be more concrete than words. Love for God
should be real and alive.
Love for
God should be lived through others.
The application of God’s love
is us loving other people. In the first reading, we see that we are told to
love and respect others. This is what God wants from us. This is what he
asks from us. We cannot say we love God and hate other people. We cannot say we
love God but not care about the situation of other people in the world. God is
alive in each person, and our love for God should be lived as we treat and relate
to others – especially those who we feel are unlovable.
May we be encouraged to love
God beyond words, and live that love by the way we treat others.
Father God,
Thank you for
today. Thank you for another day to live. thank you for another day to love you
and experience your love. Thank you for the reminder. Lord, sorry for the times
I do not live my love for you. Sorry for just saying it. Help me be real. you
know that I love you. and I ask that you help me live that love for you through
others. May I treat others the way I would treat you. may I help others like it
was you I was helping. May I love others as I love you. help me make you more
alive in this world by seeing you in others and loving you through others.
Amen.
Blessed
Sunday!
In
Christ,
-g-
Ps
See
related reflections:
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 148
Reading 1EX 22:20-26
Thus says the LORD:
"You shall not molest or oppress an alien,
for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.
You shall not wrong any widow or orphan.
If ever you wrong them and they cry out to me,
I will surely hear their cry.
My wrath will flare up, and I will kill you with the sword;
then your own wives will be widows, and your children orphans.
"If you lend money to one of your poor neighbors among my people,
you shall not act like an extortioner toward him
by demanding interest from him.
If you take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge,
you shall return it to him before sunset;
for this cloak of his is the only covering he has for his body.
What else has he to sleep in?
If he cries out to me, I will hear him; for I am compassionate."
"You shall not molest or oppress an alien,
for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.
You shall not wrong any widow or orphan.
If ever you wrong them and they cry out to me,
I will surely hear their cry.
My wrath will flare up, and I will kill you with the sword;
then your own wives will be widows, and your children orphans.
"If you lend money to one of your poor neighbors among my people,
you shall not act like an extortioner toward him
by demanding interest from him.
If you take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge,
you shall return it to him before sunset;
for this cloak of his is the only covering he has for his body.
What else has he to sleep in?
If he cries out to me, I will hear him; for I am compassionate."
Responsorial PsalmPS 18:2-3, 3-4, 47, 51
R. (2) I love you, Lord, my strength.
I love you, O LORD, my strength,
O LORD, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer.
R. I love you, Lord, my strength.
My God, my rock of refuge,
my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold!
Praised be the LORD, I exclaim,
and I am safe from my enemies.
R. I love you, Lord, my strength.
The LORD lives and blessed be my rock!
Extolled be God my savior.
You who gave great victories to your king
and showed kindness to your anointed.
R. I love you, Lord, my strength.
I love you, O LORD, my strength,
O LORD, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer.
R. I love you, Lord, my strength.
My God, my rock of refuge,
my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold!
Praised be the LORD, I exclaim,
and I am safe from my enemies.
R. I love you, Lord, my strength.
The LORD lives and blessed be my rock!
Extolled be God my savior.
You who gave great victories to your king
and showed kindness to your anointed.
R. I love you, Lord, my strength.
Reading 21 THES 1:5C-10
You know what sort of people we were among you for your sake.
And you became imitators of us and of the Lord,
receiving the word in great affliction, with joy from the Holy Spirit,
so that you became a model for all the believers
in Macedonia and in Achaia.
For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth
not only in Macedonia and in Achaia,
but in every place your faith in God has gone forth,
so that we have no need to say anything.
For they themselves openly declare about us
what sort of reception we had among you,
and how you turned to God from idols
to serve the living and true God
and to await his Son from heaven,
whom he raised from the dead,
Jesus, who delivers us from the coming wrath.
AlleluiaJN 14:23
Whoever loves me will keep my word, says the Lord,
and my Father will love him and we will come to him.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GospelMT 22:34-40
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees,
they gathered together, and one of them,
a scholar of the law tested him by asking,
"Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?"
He said to him,
"You shall love the Lord, your God,
with all your heart,
with 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.
The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."
they gathered together, and one of them,
a scholar of the law tested him by asking,
"Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?"
He said to him,
"You shall love the Lord, your God,
with all your heart,
with 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.
The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."
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