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(3rd November 2024) Homily for the Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

READ: (Deut 6: 2-6; Heb 7: 23-28; Mk 12: 28-34)

REFLECT: Love, Love, and Love…

Dear friends, today we are in the Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time. The liturgy of the word invites us to reflect on the theme ‘Love.’ You might wonder why I have to write the theme ‘Love’ thrice. There is a reason for it and the reason is the genuine love that plays an important role in life. The First most important thing is Love of God, the second most important thing is Love of neighbor and the third most important thing is Love of the self. I am sure, if we follow these paths of love, we can be lovely persons and life will be lovely. As Pope Francis would say, “Love makes us better; it makes us richer, and it makes us wiser, at any age,” to the young and old who filled the Vatican audience hall, so also now it applies to us all. Yes, if we have love, it will make us better and richer. So, based on the liturgy of the word, I would like to share with you three points of reflection;

1.     Love of God:

Love of God is our deepest devotion and desire to belong to God alone. It is an act realizing and recognizing God’s presence in life at all times. It is a voluntary commitment to develop a personal relationship with God. The commitment to relationship with God provides us a platform to grow in holiness and attune our lives to the tunes of God. The commitment to love God enables us to explore in spiritual things and grow spiritually. The spiritual exploration assists us to be in union with God. In the spiritual exploration we are constantly in communication with God, where our bond of friendship and relationship grows stronger and healthier. Therefore, love of God is the first step to climb rest of the steps to find success in life and experience fulfillment and contentment in life.

The first reading from the book of Deuteronomy and the gospel of St. Mark point to us very clearly, the first and foremost thing that we need to do in life is to love God. For he is love itself, it is he who loved us in creation and still he loves us without end. Therefore, we read in the first reading and the Gospel reading of the day, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, body and soul.” indeed, heart, mind, body and soul would mean a complete immersing of ourselves into loving God. When we love God completely with an undivided heart, mind, body and soul, we become completely his and are filled by his presence and power. All that proceeds from us will begin and end in love, because we base everything on love of God. There will be lovely life on earth possible to live. But the point is that we don’t love God completely, our love for God is half-hearted, hard hearted because we love the world and the worldly ways and means.

That’s what Jesus would remind us in the Gospel of Matthew, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money,” (Math 6:24). Yes, we cannot serve both God and money. We may have to give up one to take over another. When we can love God fully, we will be able to serve him with all our heart, mind, body and soul otherwise we will end up our lives with earthly views, ways succumbing to daily temptations of life. So let us pray that we love God first and give importance to God, from where everything flows, finds and rests, the rest of it will flow automatically in its place. Be for sure when we consider that loving God is our first primary task, we will be able to love our neighbor.

That’s what Pope Francis very beautifully points out, “The fact that love for the Lord comes first reminds us that God always precedes us, he anticipates us with his infinite tenderness. Thus, just as children learn to love through the love that their parents have for them, so we too can learn to love through God’s love for us. We become truly capable of loving, only by encountering him, surrendering to his love. So, let us not resist: let us open our hearts to the Lord each day.” Yes, if we love God above all else, God will pour out his blessings in abundance. But it does not happen with us always, because we get carried away by worldly love and selfish love. We lose taste and interest for love of God; we get caught up with the fantasies of our world we live. Thus we lose track of life in God. But if we could introspect a little deeper, we would understand that God always proves, it is not our love for God but God’s love for us always takes precedence. Such is the love of God and such is the power of God’s love.

2.     Love of Neighbor

We all know that love of neighbor involves a true and genuine compassion and love, respect and kindness over others. It is an access of entering into the lives of the other, inspire them and create an impact in such a way that they feel loved, cared, respected and dignified. Certainly, it is a selfless love and it needs courage and commitment. Sometimes, our love for neighbors or others are based on selfishness, benefit for oneself or want of any pleasure or privileges. But in all sincerity, if we could love others or our neighbors, without expecting anything in return, that could be true love we could manifest. It is accepting others as they with limitations and strengths and still loves them, because they are God’s gift or God’s children. This will definitely enhance the quality of life as human persons and moreover as Christians.

Very rightly we hear in the first letter of St. John, “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen,” (1 Jn 4:20). Yes, if we love God above all else, we will automatically love our brothers and sisters, for we see the image of God in the other as well. We know that Jesus loved God in all ways; because he loved God, Jesus was ready to be born as a human being, lived like us and was even ready to die for our sins to raise us to the status as children of God. That’s what we hear it in the second reading, the self-sacrificing nature of Jesus, the so called kenotic act or self-effacing act of Jesus in offering up his life for our sake. The high priest of the covenant in the Old Testament had their own limitations of offering sacrifice for their sins and us but Jesus offered a sacrifice once and for all, a perfect sacrifice for all of us to be raised as children of God.

Yes, Jesus loved God and so he was able to love us even to the extent of giving up life. Do we love God and is it made manifest in our neighbors? Who are neighbors? I feel other than oneself or myself others are neighbors.  Most often, we see others as threat, competitors and enemies not as collaborators, supporters and friends or as children of God. True love says mother Teresa, “love until it hurts.” But today some of us love to hurt others, because of which hatred and violence has taken upper hand. Today let us understand that loving God alone is important but much more than that loving God needs to be manifested in our brothers and sisters, whom we see, meet and converse daily. That’s life focus. The ways in which we deal with others; the way we express ourselves with others; the way we present ourselves with others; the way we handle our relationships with others matter a lot. If we respect others with human dignity and realize the imprint of God in others, we would surely love and have concern for others.

In this regard, while speaking about the love of neighbor, Pope Francis beautifully shares with us, “By loving our brothers and sisters, we reflect the Father’s love like mirrors. To reflect God’s love, this is the point to love Him whom we do not see through the brother/sisters whom we do see. How can we love like this? It is by taking the first step, as God does with us. Sometimes, it is not easy to take the first step, to forget things, but let us do it.” Yes, when we love our brothers and sisters, we begin to move a step nearer to God, love God and thus we manifest our love for God more intimately in and through our neighbors. So let us give up selfishness, jealousy, hatred, anger, revengeful feelings and love others and we will be able to love God and oneself far beyond our capacity and thinking. Because when we love God and others, God gives us the strength and he makes our growth steady to stand firm in our faith that we profess.

3.     Love of Self:

Pope Francis says, “Love for God is expressed most of all in prayer and adoration and love for one’s neighbor is expressed by being close to people, listening to them, sharing and caring for others.” Yes, these two, love for God and love for neighbors enable us to understand oneself better and love better. These two aspects of love are like two eyes, with which we are able to see ourselves better. Therefore, love of self or self-love is not selfish love rather it helps us to respect, appreciate and care oneself with mercy and compassion. It is like showing tenderness and care to others, we treat ourselves. We accept our faults and failures of life and look towards life with trust, hope and confidence in God. So self-love helps and enables us to live a fulfilling or satisfied life.

Today we are in the world of I, Me, and myself. It is true but today we find as well people who have self-identity crisis, low self-image, no consideration for self and every time we talk about others, care for others. It is a good quality to appreciate and support, but when it is done in excess without proper self-love and self-care, we treat ourselves without any respect and dignity. We fail to see God in oneself. It is there that we fail to see the image of God in oneself. We have no rights to damage the image of God, for we are not our own rather God’s. In the Gospel reading, Jesus gives us two commandments; Love of God and love of neighbor as oneself. Why did Jesus not give love of God, love of neighbor and love of self? Perhaps I feel that that no one will hate oneself that’s why Jesus said love your neighbor as you love yourself and not love yourself as you love your neighbor. So Jesus makes us aware that we need to love ourselves as well because the self is as well the image of God. Someone has very beautifully said, “if you cannot even love yourself who else will love you.”

Perhaps, I am not talking here about possessive love or selfish love rather love of oneself in a moderate and honest way. Today we find people who always underestimate oneself or degrade oneself or boast and exalt oneself for everything. Both are too extremes but we need to strike a balance to love oneself.  The Gospel of today does not mention a separate commandment love oneself but says love your neighbor as yourself which means that in a usual practice everyone will love himself or herself and will not avoid loving oneself for that matter. Therefore, self-love is important but not selfish love; self love is important but not self-pity; self love is important but not self-degradation. So we need to love ourselves as we love our neighbors. Just as self help at times is the best help so also self love at times is the best love that we can give ourselves to boost and encourage ourselves to love God and love one another.. And once we love God and love our neighbor we will automatically begin to love oneself.  That’s the most important message that Jesus communicates to us in the Gospel reading of the day, “Love your neighbor as yourself.

St.  Paul in his first letter to Corinthians very beautifully exhorts us the importance of love, “If I can speak the tongues of men and angels but if I have no love I am nothing I am only a resounding gong or clanging cymbals. If I have the prophetic powers to understand mysteries and all knowledge, if I have faith strong enough to move mountains but if I have love I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind. It does not envy or boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Love bears, hopes, believes and endures everything. Love never fails” (1 Cor 13: 1-8). Yes, love of God, love of neighbor and love of self are interconnected. If we cannot love God, we cannot love our neighbors and oneself; if we cannot love our neighbors, we cannot love God and love oneself; if you cannot love oneself, we cannot love God and our neighbors.

Let me conclude: I may be able to give volumes or series of episodes or talks on love but if we don’t love others we are nothing; we may be able to listen for hours together on the topic of love many times but if we don’t begin to love God, neighbor and oneself we are nothing. So let us love God, neighbor and oneself and permeate the world full of love. let us live in love and not in hatred, let us live in love not in turmoil, let us live in love not in gossip, let us live in love not in fights, let us live in love not in noticing differences as what we are, who we are, where we are but keep always this indelible label as children of God in love. As letters of St. John would say, “Whoever does not know to love, does not know God for God is love” (1 Jn 4:8). Yes, If God is love; we are also love itself because God love is imprinted in our neighbors and ourselves. So we ought to love God, neighbors and ourselves. Let the love of God be poured into our hearts, shown with others and shared among us all.

RESPOND:

Do we love God fully to be in union with God and understand the power of God’s love that is present in all?

Do we love our neighbors, seeing in them the image of God or we love them seeking personal benefits and privileges?

Do we love oneself to see God and make others see God in us or we love ourselves out of selfishness or self-pity or low self-image?

Let us love God, love our neighbors and love oneself, for love of God is present in us all. Amen.

God bless us all… Live Jesus!