30th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle A, Year II)
Community Word: True disciples of Jesus respond to His calling to fruitfulness.
Theme: True disciples of Jesus respond with fruitfulness when they love God and neighbor as they love themselves.
Promise: “If he cries out to me, I will hear him for I am compassionate.” (Ex 22:26b)
Reflection:
Jesus summarizes all the commandments in just one word: Love – “Love for God and love for neighbor”. We have heard these words of Jesus multiple times. He refers to the simplicity of a law we all already know – the law of love. Jesus invites us to pay attention to these words – love of God and love of neighbor – and to reflect upon them again without rushing.
To be effective and affective disciples of Jesus, we need to strengthen our firmness of spirit, to bear every situation with faithfulness of heart, greater self-denial and commitment to come closer to the likeness and image of our one true God. We must be steadfast in acting upon His word – to be kind in thought, gentle in word, generous in deed and, more importantly, be fruitful in what He asks of us. With the flame of His divine love that never ceases, we light up our lamps, never to extinguish them, that they may burn in us and enlighten others.
The word for this month encourages us: “True disciple of Jesus responds to His calling to fruitfulness” in building His kingdom. If we truly desire to grow in our lives, we must be energized by love. Love hopes and plans for the good of all. Christ’s love is committed, enduring and tough, not weak and wavering, but strong and persistent. It is not a conditional love, but an open-hearted, generous, self-giving love which God offers to us. And it is His full intent that our love becomes as steadfast as His is.
Christian life is all about love. It is easy to speak about the love of God, but in reality, is it truly our top concern? When we say that we must love God above all things, it means trusting, believing and clinging to Him at all times and in all seasons and times of our life. It means to believe, not in ourselves or in our strength, but in the good that God Himself has promised us, the good things He has prepared for all His children. We are called to share the life of God, to come to a union (communion) with the Triune-God. The first commandment assumes that the person who loves God does so because he has reasons for loving God. The one who says he loves God says so because he has experienced God’s love in his life. He has seen, heard, and felt deeply in his heart God’s loving concern for him and for others. Everything we experience is a sign of His love, even the trials and difficulties that come our way. When we go through difficulty, it may seem at first, like an insurmountable problem, an obstacle in our path. But later, we realize that it had a lesson to teach us, and in fact, helped us to become better persons.
Hearing the word of God is not enough, we need to act upon it, as our theme this week exhorts us: “True disciples of Jesus respond with fruitfulness when they love God and neighbor as they love themselves.” Our love of God is made known and made visible in our love of neighbor. To love ourselves and others, we need our hearts to be opened and healed by the therapeutic touch of divine love. Our love of God pushes us into active compassion and concern for the neighbor who needs our help, although at times, our love is restricted by our fear of getting hurt. We see people in great need, but from self-preservation, we deny them our help. Christian faith should bring us to a level of maturity that enables us to see the face of Jesus in each person, especially the lost and the least.
If we truly love God, then we can accept and trust the neighbor who failed us, or fell short of our expectations, just as we may expect our neighbor to overlook our own shortcomings. If we honestly love God, then we will be sensitive to the urgent needs of our neighbor and will not hesitate to forgive those who have wronged us. To love our neighbor is to show willingness to serve, to understand and to forebear and forgive. We must love our neighbor as we are loved by God, and find God in loving our neighbor. We come closer to God by loving our neighbor and loving our neighbor is our way of showing God that we love Him.
The love of God and love of neighbor gives us both grace and mission. God’s love pours grace upon us, love of neighbor gives us our mission. Jesus calls us to be part of this community of faith to extend His compassion to others and to be instruments of His peace. Love of God and love of neighbor are distinct but they are on equal footing in importance and necessity. They are “greater” than all the other commandments, for as the Lord reminds us, upon these two “depend all the law and the prophets” (Mt. 22:40). Jesus links them together when He says: “live these two, and you live all the commandments. Live these two and you are doing God’s will”. And in so doing, we hold on to His promise: “If he cries out to me, I will hear him for I am compassionate.” (Ex 22:26b).
Prayer:
Almighty Father, Your word through Your beloved Son tells us that there is really only one commandment, and that is to please you. When we seek to do Your will, we end up loving others as we love ourselves, and doing for others what we would do for ourselves. Loving others as we love ourselves is a way of loving you. May we do with loving hearts what You ask of us and come to share in the life You promise, that, with Your light, we may reveal your wonderful glory. For with Your love filling in our lives, nothing is too much to give and nothing too hard to bear. All these we pray in Jesus name. Amen.
Reflection Questions:
1.What have I done so far to show how much I love God?
2.What have I done to demonstrate my love of neighbor?
3.Who are those I should love but have not loved honestly and truthfully?
This Week’s Daily Mass Reading Guide:
October 26, 2014 (Sun Ex 22:20-23/Ps 18:2-3,3-4,47-51/1Thes 1:5-10/Mt 22:34-40
October 27, 2014 (Mon) Eph 4:32-5:8/Ps 1:1-2,3,4,6/Lk 13:10-17
October 28, 2014 (Tues) Eph 2:19-22/Ps 19:2-3,4-5/Lk 6:12-16
October 29, 2014 (Wed) Eph 6:1-9/Ps 145:10-11,12-13,13-14/Lk 13:22-30
October 30, 2014 (Thurs) Eph 6:10-20/Ps 144:1,2,9-10/Lk 13:31-35
October 31, 2014 (Fri) Phil 1:1-11/Ps 111:1-2,3-4,5-6/Lk 14:1-6
November 1, 2014 (Sat) Rv 7:2-4,9-14/Ps 24:1-2,3-4,5-6/1Jn 3:1-3/Mt 5:1-12
“Ignorance of the Bible is ignorance of Christ. Read your Bible daily!”
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