The WORD today 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 saw Jesus explain the two greatest commandments. Pretty simple,
but tough. First is of course, love God with all that we have. 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 lived through others.
The
application of God’s love is us loving other people. In the first reading, Ruth
lived this. She loved God by loving and serving her mother in law when she did
not have to. 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.
Do I love God? How do I express my love for him? Do I
love it in other people? In what way? What is God telling me today?
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. In a special way, I lift up to you my sister Kat who is
celebrating her birthday today. May you remind her how much you love her, and
may that move her to love you through others. Amen.
Blessed Day!
In Christ,
-g-
August 23 2019
Friday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 423
Lectionary: 423
Reading
1 RU 1:1, 3-6, 14B-16, 22
Once
in the time of the judges there was a famine in the land;
so a man from Bethlehem of Judah
departed with his wife and two sons
to reside on the plateau of Moab.
Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died,
and she was left with her two sons, who married Moabite women,
one named Orpah, the other Ruth.
When they had lived there about ten years,
both Mahlon and Chilion died also,
and the woman was left with neither her two sons nor her husband.
She then made ready to go back from the plateau of Moab
because word reached her there
that the LORD had visited his people and given them food.
Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye, but Ruth stayed with her.
Naomi said, "See now!
Your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her god.
Go back after your sister-in-law!"
But Ruth said, "Do not ask me to abandon or forsake you!
For wherever you go, I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge,
your people shall be my people, and your God my God."
Thus it was that Naomi returned
with the Moabite daughter-in-law, Ruth,
who accompanied her back from the plateau of Moab.
They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
so a man from Bethlehem of Judah
departed with his wife and two sons
to reside on the plateau of Moab.
Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died,
and she was left with her two sons, who married Moabite women,
one named Orpah, the other Ruth.
When they had lived there about ten years,
both Mahlon and Chilion died also,
and the woman was left with neither her two sons nor her husband.
She then made ready to go back from the plateau of Moab
because word reached her there
that the LORD had visited his people and given them food.
Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye, but Ruth stayed with her.
Naomi said, "See now!
Your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her god.
Go back after your sister-in-law!"
But Ruth said, "Do not ask me to abandon or forsake you!
For wherever you go, I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge,
your people shall be my people, and your God my God."
Thus it was that Naomi returned
with the Moabite daughter-in-law, Ruth,
who accompanied her back from the plateau of Moab.
They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
Responsorial
Psalm PS
146:5-6AB, 6C-7, 8-9A, 9BC-10
R.(1b) Praise the Lord, my soul!
Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD, his God,
Who made heaven and earth,
the sea and all that is in them.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
The LORD keeps faith forever,
secures justice for the oppressed,
gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets captives free.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
The LORD gives sight to the blind.
The LORD raises up those who were bowed down;
The LORD loves the just.
The LORD protects strangers.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
The fatherless and the widow he sustains,
but the way of the wicked he thwarts.
The LORD shall reign forever;
your God, O Zion, through all generations. Alleluia.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD, his God,
Who made heaven and earth,
the sea and all that is in them.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
The LORD keeps faith forever,
secures justice for the oppressed,
gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets captives free.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
The LORD gives sight to the blind.
The LORD raises up those who were bowed down;
The LORD loves the just.
The LORD protects strangers.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
The fatherless and the widow he sustains,
but the way of the wicked he thwarts.
The LORD shall reign forever;
your God, O Zion, through all generations. Alleluia.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
Alleluia PS
25:4B, 5A
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Teach me your paths, my God,
guide me in your truth.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Teach me your paths, my God,
guide me in your truth.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel MT 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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