Proper 26 Year B
All your heart, soul, and mind

For families: Study guide, group activity; snack, kid video.

For children: activity; bulletin games; craft;

For middlers: activity; bulletin games; craft.

For youth: In the good old days, we sang "Whither thou goest" whenever we talked about Ruth. It is supposedly written to reflect her willingness to go with Naomi (her mother-in-law) as Naomi returned home but Ruth was leaving her native land. Would you do that? Would you leave your native country to be the companion for an older person? What would compel you to do that? Further, think about how Ruth's going with Naomi fits with the greatest commandment to love your neighbor. Feel free to comment.

Coloring page (all ages): This week the focus is on Ruth. 

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus gives the summary of the Law. Jesus may have been the first rabbi to combine the two laws in this summary fashion. He is saying something radical. Our love of God is not real if it does not produce love of our neighbor, and our love of others is meaningless if it does not proceed from our love of God.

Using Ruth: For two Sundays we will read the highlights of the Book of Ruth, a short account important because Ruth, the great-grandmother of David, was a Gentile. This story comes from one strand of Judaism that was open to all people not just Jews. Here Ruth goes to Israel with her mother-in-law Naomi. This story of love and loyalty has always been popular among all readers of the Bible.

Using Deuteronomy: In the first reading, Moses enunciates the Shema Israel—“Hear, O Israel: the LORD is our God; the LORD is One”—which is the creed of Judaism. The first of the two laws that Jesus combined is stated here. In Hebrew thought, “heart, soul, and strength” refer to the whole human being. We are to love God, then, with all of our being.

In the second reading we continue to read through Hebrews, the letter written for Jewish Christians to help them relate Jesus to their Jewish background. This passage is a central one for the writer, since it explains the superiority of Jesus’ priesthood to that of the old priesthood.

We gather as a people who in Baptism were made sharers in the priesthood of Christ. In our Eucharistic celebration we join him in exercising that priestly ministry. And in our ministry to others, which flows out of our love for God, the sacrificial priesthood of Christ is revealed in us.