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Homily for Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

READ: (Exo 22: 21 -27; 1 Thes 1: 5-10; Matt 22:34-40)

REFLECT: The greatest of all Great commandments of God is LOVE...

Dear friends, we are in the Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary time. The liturgy of the word invites each one of us to understand how important LOVE is in our lives. The greatness of the Great commandment of LOVE that God has manifested in Jesus Christ is all time essential aspect of human life. We all of us are familiar with the great commandment in the New Testament; Love of God, love of neighbor and love of self. The greatness of this great commandment is the inclusive love for all. The command to love God, love neighbor and oneself is substantial for every Christian and human being. When these streams of love taken care accordingly, giving priority as it requires, without any imbalance, life will be completely immersed in love. There will be only love that rules the world and the entire humanity be free from all prejudices, hatred, anger, envy and duplicity of life. so based on the liturgy of the word, I would like to share with you three points of reflection as how we can understand the importance of LOVE in our live and  practice the great commandment of God to be great in the sight of God and one another in our world. 

1. God’s love for us:

Bible is full of references concerning the love of God for us. I just want to mention the two most importance love of God references that can give us the clear picture of how God loved and Jesus loved us all. We hear in the Gospel of John: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life (Jn 3:16.)” we hear in St. Paul’s letter to the Romans as well, “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5:8).” Yes, we all of us know that God loves us all equally and unconditionally. But God or Jesus in the bible is always shown to have special love or preferential love and concern for the people, who are abandoned, orphaned, distress and in depression. It’s an undeniable fact and we need to accept it too. God loves them specially not because they are wrong but they need to made right and strong, making them free from all oppressions of human standards and give them a dignity in the human society. That’s very well visible throughout the bible. Our God takes sides of the poor and the marginalized, the weak and the vulnerable, so that they can be made rich and strong, true and just in life. 

One such episode we see in the first reading from the book of Exodus where God warns us not to oppress the poor, the needy, the orphaned or the abandoned. If anyone harms such people and they cry to God in plea for help, God will in all surety hear the cry of the poor and the abandoned, show his compassion to the one’s affected due to oppression and injustice. Yes, it is not only a warning that God gives to people those who oppress the weak and the feeble but also surety of his help and support for those who cry for help and a definitive answer from God to the oppressed sections of the human society. 

Pope Francis very beautifully tells us, “In the weakness and frailty of our lives, we can turn to God with the confidence of children and enter into communion with him. In the face of so many wounds that hurt us and could harden our hearts, we are called to dive into the sea of prayer, which is the sea of God’s boundless love, to taste his tenderness.” Yes, we all of us are faced with sufferings and pains like the storms of seas but in the midst of all pains and sorrow God is there to stand by us, to support and strengthen us to withstand all the obstacles and hurdles of life. That’s the power of God’s presence and his assurance of help for us. We need to believe in the presence and assurance of God in our lives.

Today, in a world we consider others as aliens or enemies due to misunderstanding of our human existence, God proves his love for each individual on earth are important and have dignity in particular the oppressed sections of the society, who are taken for granted, who are unloved and uncared, who are made to feel that they are unwanted or unfit by one’s status and standards. I am sure we too make such distinctions in our daily life, making the poor overburdened, treating them like slaves without dignity, looking down their standards or status of life, giving sarcastic comments and criticism unbecoming of us according to the human standards. These are pure insult and absolute deprivation of human dignity of people. We can never come to a conclusion that just because one is poor and weak that they have no say in the society or no dignity in the society. The realization that everyone is equal in the sight of God would change our minds and hearts to accept the poor and weak as they are and lend them a helping hand to recognized their forgotten identity and dignity in the society. So let us pray that we love all but an additional love for the poor and oppressed sections of the humanity in our society. 

2.              Our Love for God:

Our love for God is manifested in various ways of life. At times our love for God could be based on our needs or desires. Our love for God can fluctuate and waver although God’s love for us remains dynamic and genuine. That’s what we hear in the First letter of St. John, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 Jn 4:10). Yes, the love of God is genuine and there are times we too express our love for God in deep faith and love of Him. One such incident what is presented to us in the second reading from St. Paul’s letter to Second Thessalonians. Looking at the history of people in Thessalonica, we know that they had lots of hurdles faced to persist to keep the faith that they professed in Jesus. There was consistency in their faith, because they believed in God’s word manifested in Christ Jesus by the apostles, especially by St. Paul. 

In the second reading, St. Paul heartily expresses his admiration and  appreciation for Thessalonians as they happily welcomed the apostles, joyfully accepted the proclamation of God’s word, they were exemplary to people according the word of God preached and all the more they were eagerly waiting for the second coming of  Jesus in hope and trust. Yes, this is the true love that we can express to God who loves us unconditionally. Accepting the apostles of Jesus Christ, accepting God’s word and abiding by it by being examples to people around, waiting for Jesus with eager longing in faith and trust is our sincere expression of our love for God. So our love for God is very well expressed when we accept and practice all that God has manifested to us through his representatives, apostles and through his created things on earth. Today we all know that good and evil co-exist, that life prepares for definitive gain or the loss of salvation that God offers us freely. However, God is our true judge, who will judge us based on our actions. It is an essential basis and understanding for Christian living. But many of us failed or have forgotten the fact that God judges our acts accordingly.

Although suffering and joy go together in our journey of life. as someone has beautifully said, “Life without problems and suffering is a fantasy and is not worth pursuing.” Yes, life cannot be thought of or devoid of sufferings and pains, but if we accept them as part of life and rely on God’s blessings and grace for strength, we will either be able to overcome them or face them with patience and endurance. Every follower of Christ to take to hearth that If we live as followers of Jesus in the midst of suffering and pain, a world that wrestles with God, others and oneself with God and itself, we will perhaps suffer. But, we can be confident that suffering will not break us but build our confidence and relationship with God, suffering would perhaps bring us more closely to God. 

Today as Christians we need to ask ourselves in what way we can fulfill the faith entrusted to the Church and reciprocate God’s love over us. It is by totally self-giving of ourselves to God and loving God all the more without any reserve that we can fulfill our faith and trust in God. That’s why Pope Francis would tell us, “Making an offering to God reciprocates the gratuity of his gifts.” Yes, what sort of offering could we make? It is not the cereal offering or grain offering or burnt offering or money offering rather self-offering of oneself, where one totally relies on God’s divine providence and divine promptings, where only completely surrenders to God’s will and divine plan. Such approach to our faith in God would help us grow strong in faith and love of God, although life is rough and tough, with lots of ups and downs. So let us not lose hope rather be in confident hope of God’s  tender love and his helping hand at all times, sustaining and living the faith we have inherited from Jesus to the catholic Church. 

3.              The Great command to Love:

We have various commands and laws that the world presents before us for a particular order or smooth functioning of a system of an organization or institution. Sometimes, one command or law takes precedence over the other, but no commands or laws could precede or overtake or overpower the command or law of genuine LOVE. When we love the commands and prepare commands with love, it will be a loving and loveable thing to all. Today, most of the commands or laws that we have are not done with an aspect love rather by force to control others. But unlike the commands and laws of the world, Jesus gives the commands or laws that could empower the entire world with LOVE to be loving, loveable and lovely to all. That’s the great command to Love God and love of neighbor as oneself.

Certainly, today’s Gospel reading is the summary of the divine law manifested in and through Jesus - love for God and love of neighbor as oneself.  We know the intention of Scribes and Pharisees was to put Jesus to test and trap. They thought to themselves that having known and learnt 613 laws of the Jewish society, they could trap Jesus by asking him a question, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?” But we see Jesus answering them very prudently, quoting the Book of Deuteronomy, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind (Deut 6: 4-6). Perhaps Jesus could have stopped there, but adds something more to understand from the practical point that Love of God has to be reflected in people with whom we live and move our being. Therefore he adds the second commandment from the Book of Leviticus, equalizing it to the former commandment saying, “And a second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself (Lev 19: 18).” 

The greatness of the great LOVE commandment that Jesus manifests to us is the bond and oneness of the commandments, which cannot be practiced without the other. We cannot love God without loving our neighbor or we cannot love our neighbor without loving God. There is a relationship between the two commandments; they are inseparable and they complement the two commandments and they complete the commandment too. We can say that both the commandments are the two sides of the same coin. When we understand the importance and greatness of the commandment laid down by Jesus, we would be able to empower ourselves with the grace of God to love our neighbors and ourselves well. Most of our problems lie in our failure to understand the importance and greatness of the command that Jesus offers us. We have begun to love oneself exceedingly with a selfish attitude and have forgotten that God exists or others exist too. Our world vision and every move towards our mission are colored only by the self and selfish motives. When self and selfishness takes upper hand, we lose sight of the other, we fail to live the right ways or standards of living in love of God and neighbor. So we need to have the right frame of mind or an open mind to understand the greatness of love commandment that Jesus offers us and a wider scope the love commandment has in itself. 

That’s what Pope Francis very beautifully points out the importance of great commandments that has to play a vital role in our Christian and human living. And so Pope Francis says, “In effect, the visible sign a Christian can show in order to witness to his love for God to the world and to others, to his family, is the love he bears for his brothers. The Commandment to love God and neighbor is the first, not because it is at the top of the list of Commandments. Jesus does not place it at the pinnacle but at the centre, because it is from the heart that everything must go out and to which everything must return and refer.”

Yes, the greatness of the commandment Jesus does not say whether it is at the top or bottom rather the centre of each one’s heart and life.  So instead of asking which is at the top or bottom, we need to ask, is these commandments centre of the human heart or human existence. Most of us have the tendency to be satisfied with either first or second commandment but Jesus lays emphasis on both the commandments, so that they go hand in hand and feel the importance of  seeing God in the other and others seeing God and seeking God in everything. The human preference or choice is that either we extremely love God and seldom love people of God or we love extremely people and seldom love God. But loving God and others as God loved or loves will enable us to become the children of God. 

So let us always remember the concluding statement of Jesus in today’s Gospel, “On these two commandments (love of God and love of neighbor) depend all the Law and the Prophets”. Yes, whatever may be the laws that we had or hold now, whatever may be the proclamation that the prophets have made in the past or presently the representatives of Christ or the members of Catholic Church we do now, all must be based on love, that is, genuine and true. Without genuine love for God and for our neighbor, we shall never be ourselves as God’s image and likeness. We will only be liars and pretenders of God’s image and likeness in us. So let us make every effort to practice the great and most important commandment Jesus has given us to love God primarily and without any hesitation or without losing the hold of loving our neighbor in our lives. True love for God and neighbors will add beauty and meaning to the life that we live. Love is all and all is love, provided we understand the greatness of the love command that Jesus offers us. Let us live in love and give love to all. 

RESPOND:

Do we understand that God loves us always although we are weak and feeble?

Do we love God fully for the love that he lavished upon us?

Do we understand the greatness of the love commandment that Jesus offers and make efforts to love God and our neighbors in life?

Let us understand the God’s love for us, love him all the more and manifest our love for God in and through our brothers and sisters in our world. Amen. 

God bless us all! Live Jesus!

Fr. Ramesh George MSFS

rameshvkmsfs@gmail.com

9500930968