They say that if you won't do your best, don't do it at all. Just as important as what you do is how you do it. You should give your best. You should give your all - no matter how simple what you are doing is. Doing your best means you give your all - all you have, all you've got. You cannot control the outcome of everything, but you can control how you do it. You can control how much effort you give as you do it. This is true in different things in life, but especially in loving God.
God
deserves our best, and we should give him that. We should give God our
everything.
In the gospel, Jesus himself
said that:
Hear, O
Israel!
The Lord our
God is Lord alone!
You shall love
the Lord your God
with all your
heart,
with all your
soul, with all your mind,
and with all
your strength.
He wants us to love God with everything - all our heart, soul, mind and strength. He
wants our whole being. He wants all of us, including all our imperfections. He
wants us to love him and offer him everything, because only then can we
experience his great love and power. He wants us to love him and surrender to
him everything. We need not be holy as we love him. He accepts us as we are.
And as we love him and give him everything, he will fill us with everything of
his. And as this happen, we will feel his love and power and we will be
transformed to be more and more like him.
Loving God and giving him our
all should be translated to the second greatest commandment - love your
neighbor as yourself. It is easy to say we love God, but hard to do. Love for
God should be concretized and
lived by loving others. Others, especially the unlovable. Others, especially
those who cannot and will not love us back. Only then can we say we love God
with all we have.
Loving God with all we've got
is not easy. But it surely is necessary for us to realize and experience all
his love as well. May we be moved into action and love God with all we
have, and translate this to loving others.
Father God,
Thank you for
today. Thank you for another day to live. Thank you for loving me so much.
Thank you for your reminder of how I should love you. Lord, i am sorry
for the times i don't love and serve you with all I have. Sorry for holding
back my actions for you. Sorry for giving excuses - that I'm busy, that i'm
tired, that I do other good things anyway. And sorry for not loving others as
you want me to. Sorry for not concretizing my love for you. Help me surrender
to you. Help me love you, not the way i want to love you, but the way you want
me to love you. As I surrender, as I love you, I ask that you make me more and
more like you. May you be pleased with me, my actions, and how I love you.
Amen.
Blessed
day!
In Christ,
-g-
March 9, 2018
Friday of the Third Week of Lent
Lectionary: 241
Reading 1 HOS 14:2-10
Thus says the LORD:
Return, O Israel, to the LORD, your God;
you have collapsed through your guilt.
Take with you words,
and return to the LORD;
Say to him, "Forgive all iniquity,
and receive what is good, that we may render
as offerings the bullocks from our stalls.
Assyria will not save us,
nor shall we have horses to mount;
We shall say no more, 'Our god,'
to the work of our hands;
for in you the orphan finds compassion."
I will heal their defection, says the LORD,
I will love them freely;
for my wrath is turned away from them.
I will be like the dew for Israel:
he shall blossom like the lily;
He shall strike root like the Lebanon cedar,
and put forth his shoots.
His splendor shall be like the olive tree
and his fragrance like the Lebanon cedar.
Again they shall dwell in his shade
and raise grain;
They shall blossom like the vine,
and his fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
Ephraim! What more has he to do with idols?
I have humbled him, but I will prosper him.
"I am like a verdant cypress tree"–
Because of me you bear fruit!
Let him who is wise understand these things;
let him who is prudent know them.
Straight are the paths of the LORD,
in them the just walk,
but sinners stumble in them.
Return, O Israel, to the LORD, your God;
you have collapsed through your guilt.
Take with you words,
and return to the LORD;
Say to him, "Forgive all iniquity,
and receive what is good, that we may render
as offerings the bullocks from our stalls.
Assyria will not save us,
nor shall we have horses to mount;
We shall say no more, 'Our god,'
to the work of our hands;
for in you the orphan finds compassion."
I will heal their defection, says the LORD,
I will love them freely;
for my wrath is turned away from them.
I will be like the dew for Israel:
he shall blossom like the lily;
He shall strike root like the Lebanon cedar,
and put forth his shoots.
His splendor shall be like the olive tree
and his fragrance like the Lebanon cedar.
Again they shall dwell in his shade
and raise grain;
They shall blossom like the vine,
and his fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
Ephraim! What more has he to do with idols?
I have humbled him, but I will prosper him.
"I am like a verdant cypress tree"–
Because of me you bear fruit!
Let him who is wise understand these things;
let him who is prudent know them.
Straight are the paths of the LORD,
in them the just walk,
but sinners stumble in them.
Responsorial Psalm PS 81:6C-8A, 8BC-9, 10-11AB, 14 AND 17
R. (see 11 and 9a) I am the Lord your God: hear my
voice.
An unfamiliar speech I hear:
"I relieved his shoulder of the burden;
his hands were freed from the basket.
In distress you called, and I rescued you."
R. I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.
"Unseen, I answered you in thunder;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
Hear, my people, and I will admonish you;
O Israel, will you not hear me?"
R. I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.
"There shall be no strange god among you
nor shall you worship any alien god.
I, the LORD, am your God
who led you forth from the land of Egypt."
R. I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.
"If only my people would hear me,
and Israel walk in my ways,
I would feed them with the best of wheat,
and with honey from the rock I would fill them."
R. I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.
An unfamiliar speech I hear:
"I relieved his shoulder of the burden;
his hands were freed from the basket.
In distress you called, and I rescued you."
R. I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.
"Unseen, I answered you in thunder;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
Hear, my people, and I will admonish you;
O Israel, will you not hear me?"
R. I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.
"There shall be no strange god among you
nor shall you worship any alien god.
I, the LORD, am your God
who led you forth from the land of Egypt."
R. I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.
"If only my people would hear me,
and Israel walk in my ways,
I would feed them with the best of wheat,
and with honey from the rock I would fill them."
R. I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.
Verse Before The Gospel MT 4:17
Repent, says the Lord;
the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Gospel MK 12:28-34
One of the scribes came to
Jesus and asked him,
"Which is the first of all the commandments?"
Jesus replied, "The first is this: Hear, O Israel!
The Lord our God is Lord alone!
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul,
with all your mind,
and with all your strength.
The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these."
The scribe said to him, "Well said, teacher.
You are right in saying, He is One and there is no other than he.
And to love him with all your heart,
with all your understanding,
with all your strength,
and to love your neighbor as yourself
is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."
And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding,
he said to him,
"You are not far from the Kingdom of God."
And no one dared to ask him any more questions.
"Which is the first of all the commandments?"
Jesus replied, "The first is this: Hear, O Israel!
The Lord our God is Lord alone!
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul,
with all your mind,
and with all your strength.
The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these."
The scribe said to him, "Well said, teacher.
You are right in saying, He is One and there is no other than he.
And to love him with all your heart,
with all your understanding,
with all your strength,
and to love your neighbor as yourself
is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."
And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding,
he said to him,
"You are not far from the Kingdom of God."
And no one dared to ask him any more questions.
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