31st Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle B, Year I)
Community Word: The Kingdom of God is for those who obey His commandment of love.
Theme: We obey God’s commandment of love when we sincerely love our neighbor in word and deed.
Promise: “… that you may grow and prosper the more…to give you a land flowing with milk and honey.” (Dt. 6:3)
Reflection:
Scripturally, “to hear” means to listen attentively to God, to obey Him and to cling joyfully to Him. Why is “to love” the greatest commandment? Because it reflects the very nature of God. God is love and it is when we love Him and love one another that we imitate His nature as well as reflect His being in our own life. The Lord asks us to open our hearts in love to widen our horizons and to tear down the close-mindedness and selfishness of imperfect love.
The commandment of loving God is tied to the love of neighbor and to love them equally and without distinction. One cannot do this unless he puts his soul, mind and strength to it. Love of neighbor arises from and flows directly into love of God. To love our neighbor is the willingness to serve, the ability to understand and the readiness to forgive. The proof of our love of God is the way and manner we love our neighbor. For Jesus, the two are really one, that one cannot be authentic without the other.
Loving God benefits us; it makes us grow in grace and transforms us to be truly matured Christians. Love invites us to go beyond our own petty involvements and concerns and opens us to our capabilities and potentials that God desires for us – to live an abundant life. It allows us to walk beyond our comfort zone and give full meaning to the word “sacrifice.” A lot of unhappiness and sufferings is caused by the absence or lack of love. St. Teresa of Calcutta used to say that the greater need more than hunger is the need to be loved and be wanted. Thus to love God is to love the last, the least and the lost. We are asked for the kind of commitment which motivates all aspects of our lives. Love seeks what is good and what makes others better. We should be ready to back our convictions with all our resources. We must not give up a noble task we have set out to do. Thus, if we are to be faithful to Jesus as the King of our lives, we must learn to honor and keep God’s commandment, more specifically His commandment to love our neighbor.
Many of us are dying from lack of love in a world where almost everyone wants to love and hungers for love when it is just all around us. Could it be that we have raised up walls instead of constructing bridges? Or we offer clenched fists instead of embraces. At times when the walls are gone, we have already become tired, hurt and distrustful. We have gotten used to putting walls around us that we no longer learn to reach out to others. But love is not really absent or lacking. We just have to open and extend our hearts and tap from our greatest source of love – God, doing what is right before Him and obeying His primordial commandment to love Him and others as we love ourselves. Much blessing can be derived from His promise when we follow His precept: “… that you may grow and prosper the more…to give you a land flowing with milk and honey.” (Dt. 6:3)
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, You sent Your only Son into the world to save us. You did not treat as we deserved, condemning us as sinners for our pride and disobedience. Instead, in Your amazing love, You reached out to each one of us to embrace us and draw us to Your personal love. We cannot fathom the kind of love that motivates such sacrifice. With all our heart, we choose to love and obey You in return. In Jesus name we pray. Amen!
Reflection Guide Questions:
- What have you done so far to show how much you love God?
- What more must you do to show that you truly love the marginalized and needy among your neighbor?
This Week’s Daily Mass Reading Guide:
October 31, 2021 (Sun) – Dt 6:2-6/ Ps 18:2-4, 47, 51/ Heb 7:23-28/ Mk 12:28b-34
November 1, 2021 (Mon) – Rv 7:2-4,9-14/Ps 24:1-2,3-4,5-6/1 Jn 3:1-3/Mt 5:1-12
November 2, 2021 (Tue) – Wis 3:1-9/ Ps 23/ Rom 6:3-9/ Mt 25:31-46
November 3, 2021 (Wed) – Rom 13:8-10/ Ps 112:1-2, 4-5, 9/ Lk 14:25-33
November 4, 2021 (Thurs) – Rom 14:7-12/ Ps 27:1, 4, 13-14/ Lk 15:1-10
November 5, 2021 (Fri) – Rom 15:14-21/ Ps 98:1, 2-3, 3-4/ Lk 16:1-8
November 6, 2021 (Sat) – Rom 16:3-9,16, 22-27/ Ps 145:2-3,4-5,10-11/ Lk 16:9-15
“Ignorance of the Bible is ignorance of Christ. Read your Bible daily!”
