2020년 10월 25일 연중 제30주일(전교 주일)
오늘의 복음 : http://info.catholic.or.kr/missa/default.asp
제1독서
탈출기. 22,20-26
주님께서 이렇게 말씀하신다.
20 “너희는 이방인을 억압하거나 학대해서는 안 된다.
너희도 이집트 땅에서 이방인이었다.
21 너희는 어떤 과부나 고아도 억눌러서는 안 된다.
22 너희가 그들을 억눌러 그들이 나에게 부르짖으면,
나는 그 부르짖음을 들어줄 것이다.
23 그러면 나는 분노를 터뜨려 칼로 너희를 죽이겠다.
그러면 너희 아내들은 과부가 되고, 너희 아들들은 고아가 될 것이다.
24 너희가 나의 백성에게, 너희 곁에 사는 가난한 이에게 돈을 꾸어 주었으면,
그에게 채권자처럼 행세해서도 안 되고, 이자를 물려서도 안 된다.
25 너희가 이웃의 겉옷을 담보로 잡았으면, 해가 지기 전에 돌려주어야 한다.
26 그가 덮을 것이라고는 그것뿐이고,
몸을 가릴 것이라고는 그 겉옷뿐인데, 무엇을 덮고 자겠느냐?
그가 나에게 부르짖으면 나는 들어줄 것이다. 나는 자비하다.”
제2독서
테살로니카 1서. 1,5ㄴ-10
형제 여러분, 5 우리가 여러분을 위하여
여러분 가운데에서 어떻게 처신하였는지 여러분은 알고 있습니다.
6 또한 여러분은 큰 환난 속에서도 성령께서 주시는 기쁨으로 말씀을 받아들여,
우리와 주님을 본받는 사람이 되었습니다.
7 그리하여 여러분은 마케도니아와 아카이아의 모든 신자에게
본보기가 되었습니다.
8 주님의 말씀이 여러분에게서 시작하여
마케도니아와 아카이아에 울려 퍼졌을 뿐만 아니라,
하느님에 대한 여러분의 믿음이 곳곳에 알려졌습니다.
그러니 우리는 더 말할 필요가 없습니다.
9 사실 그곳 사람들이 우리에 관한 이야기를 전하고 있습니다.
우리가 여러분을 찾아갔을 때에 여러분이 우리를 어떻게 받아들였는지,
여러분이 어떻게 우상들을 버리고 하느님께 돌아서서
살아 계신 참하느님을 섬기게 되었는지,
10 그리고 여러분이 어떻게
하느님께서 죽은 이들 가운데에서 일으키신 그분의 아드님,
곧 닥쳐오는 진노에서 우리를 구해 주실 예수님께서
하늘로부터 오실 것을 기다리게 되었는지 말하고 있습니다.
복음
마태오. 22,34-40
때에 34 예수님께서 사두가이들의 말문을 막아 버리셨다는 소식을 듣고
바리사이들이 한데 모였다.
35 그들 가운데 율법 교사 한 사람이 예수님을 시험하려고 물었다.
36 “스승님, 율법에서 가장 큰 계명은 무엇입니까?”
37 예수님께서 그에게 말씀하셨다.
“‘네 마음을 다하고 네 목숨을 다하고 네 정신을 다하여
주 너의 하느님을 사랑해야 한다.’
38 이것이 가장 크고 첫째가는 계명이다.
39 둘째도 이와 같다.
‘네 이웃을 너 자신처럼 사랑해야 한다.’는 것이다.
40 온 율법과 예언서의 정신이 이 두 계명에 달려 있다.”
October 25, 2020
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Daily Mass : http://www.catholictv.com/shows/daily-mass
Reading 1
Ex 22:20-26
"You shall not molest or oppress an alien,
for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.
You shall not wrong any widow or orphan.
If ever you wrong them and they cry out to me,
I will surely hear their cry.
My wrath will flare up, and I will kill you with the sword;
then your own wives will be widows, and your children orphans.
"If you lend money to one of your poor neighbors among my people,
you shall not act like an extortioner toward him
by demanding interest from him.
If you take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge,
you shall return it to him before sunset;
for this cloak of his is the only covering he has for his body.
What else has he to sleep in?
If he cries out to me, I will hear him; for I am compassionate."
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 18:2-3, 3-4, 47, 51
I love you, O LORD, my strength,
O LORD, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer.
R. I love you, Lord, my strength.
My God, my rock of refuge,
my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold!
Praised be the LORD, I exclaim,
and I am safe from my enemies.
R. I love you, Lord, my strength.
The LORD lives and blessed be my rock!
Extolled be God my savior.
You who gave great victories to your king
and showed kindness to your anointed.
R. I love you, Lord, my strength.
Reading 2
1 Thes 1:5c-10
You know what sort of people we were among you for your sake.
And you became imitators of us and of the Lord,
receiving the word in great affliction, with joy from the Holy Spirit,
so that you became a model for all the believers
in Macedonia and in Achaia.
For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth
not only in Macedonia and in Achaia,
but in every place your faith in God has gone forth,
so that we have no need to say anything.
For they themselves openly declare about us
what sort of reception we had among you,
and how you turned to God from idols
to serve the living and true God
and to await his Son from heaven,
whom he raised from the dead,
Jesus, who delivers us from the coming wrath.
Gospel
Mt 22:34-40
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees,
they gathered together, and one of them,
a scholar of the law tested him by asking,
"Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?"
He said to him,
"You shall love the Lord, your God,
with all your heart,
with all your soul,
and with all your mind.
This is the greatest and the first commandment.
The second is like it:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."
http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
Our amazing God has once again put together a set of Biblical texts for today which address precisely what we as His people need to hear. This message speaks directly to our current frustrations and perhaps even to our fears and hopelessness. It challenges us to step back and view our world as God sees it and then to respond as he would respond.
In the 22nd chapter of Exodus, God spends considerable time reviewing how it is that we are to live our lives. The Jewish people had been going through incredible hardships in Egypt and the Lord was now providing deliverance for them. As they left Egypt, however, their troubles did not all of a sudden come to an end. There continued to be challenges, each of which resulted in many losing their focus upon God and His many blessings. Their focus turned into themselves, complaining about how unfair their circumstances seemed to be. With Covid and everything else that we are encountering today, it certainly seems that we have much in common with those Israelites.
So how did God choose to respond? He simply, patiently reminded them how they should be living their lives – by FOCUSING on the needs of others. Those others included aliens (perhaps that might translate to those in our lives with differing viewpoints), those facing crises (today that would include both medically and financially), and those with basic food, clothing, and shelter needs. God reminds them (and us) that He hears the cries of those in need and that there are consequences if we fail to show compassion.
Should we question our ability to respond with love and compassion when we ourselves might be facing similar challenges, the Responsorial Psalm reminds us from where our strength is derived – our Lord who is our ROCK, our DELIVERER, our STRENGTH. The Alleluia goes on to promise that if we keep the Lord’s word, then the Father will love us and will come to us – we will never be alone as we seek to follow Jesus.
The Second Reading further reinforces this calling to “serve the living and true God”. There were many people with differing viewpoints living in the bustling city of Thessalonica. Living out God’s calling in that city was certainly a challenge for Paul. He actually was forced to flee to the nearby city of Berea. The point for us, however, was that even in difficult times, following Jesus’ example of focusing on others will produce positive results. Of course this serves as an effective model for all believers. Allowing our faith in God to keep us focused on others will allow us to make a profound impact for God.
Jesus put an exclamation on this thread in the Gospel found in Matthew. While He responded to the Pharisees’ question that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind, Jesus went on to emphasize the second commandment that “you shall love your neighbor as yourself”. He also noted that “the whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.” All those in each of our lives represent the “neighbors” that Jesus was talking about. The simple truth is that we have a holy obligation to respond with love and compassion to those God has placed in our lives.
Dear Heavenly Father, Your truth is so clearly revealed to us throughout Your Holy Word. As we seek to live out our lives for You, help us to stay focused upon You - first and foremost - and then to use your love and compassion as the example for us to maintain a singular focus upon the needs of others.
In the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.
http://www.presentationministries.com/obob/obob.asp
QUESTION BOX
“When the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they assembled in a body; and one of them, a lawyer, in an attempt to trip Him up, asked Him...” —Matthew 22:34-35
Jesus was asked what was the greatest commandment. He answered not only by giving the greatest commandment but also the first one, the second one, and the basis of the whole law and of the prophets (Mt 22:37-40). When we ask Jesus a question, we often get much more than we bargained for. That’s why we may feel afraid to ask Him questions (Mk 9:32).
Jesus may be “too much” for us (Mk 6:3). He will give us more than we can ever ask for or imagine (Eph 3:20). That means we’re not in control of everything. The Lord will be Lord of our questions. In fact, He wants to be Lord of everything, including our lives. At the name of Jesus, every knee must bend (Phil 2:10).
Nonetheless, I challenge you to ask Jesus a question. Be prepared to not be prepared and not be in control. Be prepared to be loved and surprised, to repent and obey.
Jesus alone is the Answer. Therefore, when we ask Jesus a question, we can expect something special. Go ahead; dare to ask Jesus a question.
Prayer: Jesus, I will trust You enough to ask and receive (Mt 7:7).
Promise: “The word of the Lord has echoed forth from you resoundingly.” —1 Thes 1:8
Praise: “Just as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will come to life again” (1 Cor 15:22). Risen Jesus, how can we thank You enough for Your sacrifice? We are all Yours.
http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/readings/
What is the purpose of God's law and commandments? The Pharisees prided themselves in the knowledge of the law of Moses and the ritual requirements of the law. They made it a life-time practice to study the 613 precepts of the Torah - the books of the Old Testament containing the Law of Moses - along with the numerous rabbinic commentaries on the law. The religious authorities tested Jesus to see if he correctly understood the law as they did. Jesus startled them with his profound simplicity and mastery of the law of God and its purpose.
God's love rules all
Jesus summarized the whole of the law in two great commandments found in Deuteronomy 6:5 - "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might" - and Leviticus 19:18 - "you shall love your neighbor as yourself". God's love directs all that he does - His love is holy, just, and pure because it seeks only what is good, beneficial, and life-giving - rather than what is destructive, evil, or deadly. That is why he commands us to love - to accept and to give only what is good, lovely, just, and pure and to reject whatever is contrary.
God puts us first in his thoughts
God is love and everything he does flows from his love for us (1 John 3:1, 4:7-8, 16). God puts us first in his thoughts and concerns - do we put him first in our thoughts? God loved us first (1 John 4:19) and our love for him is a response to his exceeding goodness and kindness towards us. The love of God comes first and the love of neighbor is firmly grounded in the love of God. The more we know of God's love, truth, and goodness, the more we love what he loves and reject whatever is hateful and contrary to his will. God commands us to love him first above all else - his love orients and directs our thoughts, intentions, and actions to what is wholly good and pleasing to him. He wants us to love him personally, wholeheartedly, and without any reservation or compromise.
The nature of love - giving to others for their sake
What is the nature of love? Love is the gift of giving oneself for the good of others - it is wholly other oriented and directed to the welfare and benefit of others. Love which is rooted in pleasing myself is self-centered and possessive - it is a selfish love that takes from others rather than gives to others. It is a stunted and disordered love which leads to many hurtful and sinful desires - such as jealousy, greed, envy, and lust. The root of all sin is disordered love and pride which is fundamentally putting myself above God and my neighbor - it is loving and serving self rather than God and neighbor. True love, which is wholly directed and oriented to what is good rather than evil, is rooted in God's truth and righteousness (moral goodness).
How God loves us
God loves us wholly, completely, and perfectly for our sake - there is no limit, no holding back, no compromising on his part. His love is not subject to changing moods or circumstances. When God gives, he gives generously, abundantly, freely, and without setting conditions to the gift of his love. His love does not waver, but is firm, consistent, and constant. He loves us in our weakness - in our fallen and sinful condition. That is why the Father sent his only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to redeem us from slavery to sin and its disordered cravings, desires, passions, and addictions. God the Father always seeks us out to draw us to his throne of mercy and help. God the Father corrects and disciplines us in love to free us from the error of our wrong ways of thinking and choosing what is harmful and evil rather than choosing what is good and wholesome for us. Do you freely accept God's love and do you willingly choose to obey his commandments?
We do not earn God's love - it is freely given
How can we possibly love God above all else and obey his commandments willingly and joyfully, and how can we love our neighbor and willing lay down our life for their sake? Paul the Apostle tells us that "hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us" (Romans 5:5). We do not earn God's love - it is freely given to those who open their heart to God and who freely accept the gift of the Holy Spirit. Ask the Lord Jesus to flood your heart with his love through the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Love grows with faith and hope
What makes our love for God and his commands grow in us? Faith in God and hope in his promises strengthens us in the love of God. They are essential for a good relationship with God, for being united with him. The more we know of God the more we love him and the more we love him the greater we believe and hope in his promises. The Lord Jesus, through the gift of the Holy Spirit, gives us a new freedom to love as he loves. Paul the Apostle writes, "For freedom Christ has set us free... only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh [sinful inclinations], but through love be servants of one another" (Galatians 5:1,13). Do you allow anything to keep you from the love of God and the joy of serving others with a generous heart?
Lord Jesus, your love surpasses all. Flood my heart with your love and increase my faith and hope in your promises. Help me to give myself in generous service to others as you have so generously given yourself to me.
Psalm 18:1-3, 46, 49-50
1 I love you, O LORD, my strength.
2 The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3 I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.
46 The LORD lives; and blessed be my rock, and exalted be the God of my salvation,
49 For this I will extol you, O LORD, among the nations, and sing praises to your name.
50 Great triumphs he gives to his king, and shows steadfast love to his anointed, to David and his descendants for ever.
Daily Quote from the Early Church Fathers: Loving God with heart, mind, and soul, by Origen of Alexandria (185-254 AD)
"Worthy is he, confirmed in all his gifts, who exults in the wisdom of God, having a heart full of the love of God, and a soul completely enlightened by the lamp of knowledge and a mind filled with the word of God. It follows then that all such gifts truly come from God. He would understand that all the law and the prophets are in some way a part of the wisdom and knowledge of God. He would understand that all the law and the prophets depend upon and adhere to the principle of the love of the Lord God and of neighbor and that the perfection of piety consists in love." (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 13)
http://www.homilies.net/
Homily from Father James Gilhooley
30 Ordinary Time
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle A - Matthew 22:34-40
When one elephant in a herd is hurt, other elephants will help the injured animal stay on its feet. They crowd about the injured elephant and provide a shoulder for him to lean on. Can we do less for people?
The Herodians, Pharisees, and Saducees, pursuing Jesus in today's Gospel, were wannabe jailers. They had hunted Jesus for three years. They wanted Him out of their lives. Each time out they came up not with His scalp but with empty air. They were losers.
Today's strategy was foolproof. Or so they thought. They took turns baiting Jesus with thorny legal questions. They hoped to reel Him in like an exhausted fish and gut Him.
Today the Pharisees' attorney was the leadoff batter, "Master, which is the Law's greatest commandment?" The question appears harmless to us, but it was a ticking bomb. For centuries, the Jews argued this question. They had 600 laws. If it was His enemies' lucky day, the Christ would give an unpopular response. The crowd would grow angry. He'd become history.
Jesus' answer rings out clear even today. You must love God and neighbor. Neither of these concepts was news to the lawyer. Both were taken by Christ out of the Books of Deuteronomy and Leviticus. But He put a peculiar spin on His response. We see three firsts.
For the first time in Jewish theology, Jesus had taken the two concepts and made them two sides of one coin. Also He was the first to argue that "on these two commandments hang the whole Law..." Finally, He was a complete original in telling His audience one must love Jews and Gentiles. The Gentiles were the ones the Pharisees loved to hate.
Jesus had proved to be the Lord of Surprises. No wonder the editors of Time, Newsweek, and the US News & World Report chose to place His picture on their front cover in the same week. He was front-page news in His time and remains so in ours.
The attorney from the firm of Dewey, Cheetem, & Howe, who was fronting for the hostiles, called time out. He found himself holding a gun shooting backwards. Fighting Jesus was unproductive. We cannot beat up on His enemies for not marrying the concepts of God and neighbor. Their inability to do so reflects a centuries old dispute in our Church.
Some Catholics, especially many young, argue, "I come to church to worship God. Spare me the message on the poor. I get that on the TV all week." This is telephone booth theology: just me and God and nobody else. Here they obey the first great commandment and forget the second.
Other Catholics operate on social worker principles. They put out for the poor not because it pleases God but because it pleases them. Jesus is squeezed out of the package. They obey the second great commandment and disregard the first. Such people are humanists but not Christians.
Maximilian Kolbe was a Nazi prisoner. He heard his fellow prisoners badmouth their jailers. The priest, who would be executed by the Nazis in 1941, urged them to forgive their captors. "Hatred only leads to more of the same. Only love," he said, "is creative." Kolbe, now a canonized saint, loved his jailers because of today's Gospel. He had learned that when you look for good in others, you discover the best in yourself. (Unknown)
Karl Barth wrote volumes on God. Still he tells us his definition of God is summed up in three words: One who loves. Since God is a tremendous lover, should we be less? When you fail to see God in people, you come to see others as a lost cause. If you forget today's Gospel, people appear to be unteachable. You become a misanthrope or cynic.
This week give time. Give a friend flowers. Share a cake. Perhaps a phone call. Give hope. Hug a child needing affection. Speak praise to a teen-ager. Forgive an enemy. Use humor to defuse an argument. Smile. Say thank you. (Unknown)
A Hindu proverb sums up the above: "The narrow-minded ask, 'Are these people strangers or members of our tribe?' But to those in whom love dwells, the whole world is one family."
Meditate today on the aphorism that people with a heart for God have a heart for people.
If you find yourself a lousy lover, don't grow discouraged. Many bad lovers are people who did not know how close they were to success when they gave up? (Unknown)
If the elephants can show love for each other, why can't we?
Reaching out and aiding your neighbor is excellent exercise for the heart. (Unknown)
Homily from Father Joseph Pellegrino
Frjoeshomilies.net
30 Ordinary Time
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Teach the Children to Love
People always say that it is more difficult to be a child or Teen these days than back when they were young. People said that way back when I was young and drugs started dominating lives. They said that when birth control and abortion led many to think that they now had a green light to unbridled sex. They said that a few years later when VCR’s brought porn into many homes. And they say that now as we are facing three epidemics that have become national health crises, addition to opiods, addiction to porn, and, of course, the Covid pandemic.
With all this stated, I want to shock you by telling you that it was easier to be a parent five years ago than it is now. What has changed in the last five years? Anger and hate have become acceptable to some in our society. You see, five years ago parents did not have to be that concerned with their children being caught up in anger and in hate. Five years ago, parents did not have to be concerned that their children would be exposed to large numbers of influential adults who point at whole groups of people and call them criminals and rapists. Five years ago, parents did not have to be concerned that their children would be immersed in a society that has posited hatred as a valid reason for action.
Our children are our treasures. We need to protect them from the terrors of this fallen world. We need to teach them that as followers of Jesus Christ, they cannot participate in the work of the devil, the work of hatred.
The basis of our education in Christ must be the fundamental teachings of the Lord as expressed in today’s Gospel: Love God with your whole heart, your whole mind and your whole soul, and love your neighbor as yourself. Children and Teens can learn to withstand hatred if they are taught to ask themselves, “Are people loving God when they say such horrible things about other people?”
I also suggest that parents educate their children by absolutely refusing to allow the word “hate” to be used in their house, by anyone, children or adults. Even if a child say, “I hate brussel sprouts,” parents should say, “We don’t say that word here. You can say ‘I can’t stand brussel sprouts,’ but the word hate is not allowed in this house.” And if the child asks, “Why?,” respond, “Because this is not just a house, it is a home. A home is where Jesus is present. He is here uniting us into a family.” And if your pre-Teen or Teen asks, “So, is it OK to use the word hate outside our house?,” you could respond, “No it is not OK. Remember, we each have Jesus dwelling inside of us. He will not remain within us if we turn from His Love and turn to hate.”
We might not be able to protect our children from exposure to those elements of society driven by hate, but we can teach them why they need to fight against being caught up in the hatred. We cannot allow our children to become haters.
Begin with that teaching of the Lord in today’s Gospel. Loving God with our whole heart, our whole soul and our whole mind means that our lives must revolve around God. We must love him with every part of our lives. Children and Teens may not be able to define love, but they understand love. They know that their parents love them with every part of their being. They also know that they love their parents with every fiber of their being, even when they are upset with Mom or Dad those times when they don’t get their way. Teach your children that the love that they experience from Mom and Dad and the love that they have for Mom and Dad are just small reflections of the love that God has for them, and that they must have for God. God created us to love us. He fills us with His love. Rich or poor, healthy or sick, in a crowd or alone, every one of us has received the infinite gift of God’s love. “Know that I am with you always,” Jesus said to the disciples before He ascended into heaven. He is here. He is with us. He is loving us. And He is waiting for our response. Our response is our love for Him, a love that is all embracing, a love that emanates from our whole life, our whole heart, our whole mind and our whole soul. Every action of our lives must display the love of God. We are people of God. We are people of love. If we are ever anywhere or involved in anything where the love of God is not evident, then we have no business being there.
Teach your children that we love God because He first loved us, and teach your children the second part of today’s gospel, love your neighbor as yourself. Perhaps this is clearer to us in an earlier part of Matthew, Matthew 7:12. We call this passage the Golden rule, “Do to others what you would have them do to you. This is the law and the prophets.” Many ancient philosophers stated a negative law, “Don’t do to others what you don’t want them to do to you.” Only Jesus was positive, “Do to others what you want them to do to you.” We need to teach our children to be active lovers of other people. We need to teach them to reach out to others in love, particularly to those who need their help. We need to teach them to fight against hatred with the one weapon that destroys hatred. That weapon is love. It is the weapon that Jesus used when from the cross He destroyed the devil’s hold on the world.
I am convinced that it is more difficult to be a parent now than it was five years ago because hatred is now acceptable in some areas of our society. But, there is this wonderful positive: parents are being forced by all this to become even greater lovers of God, of their family, and of each other. We can beat the devil at his own game. He provides hatred. We counter with love. When we come upon hatred, we can use this as an occasion to grow in love. By fighting against hatred, from the use of the word hate in our homes to reaching out to the victims of hatred in our society, we become more loving. We beat the devil at his own game.
Parents have the wonderful responsibility of raising children for God. But you parents are not alone in this battle for the Kingdom. We the Christian community all share in your responsibility. We are gathered here this morning to pray for our parents and to pray that we all might have the courage to withstand evil. We pray that we might have the courage to be people of love.
Homily from Father Phil Bloom
Stmaryvalleybloom.org
* Available in Spanish - see Spanish Homilies
30 Ordinary Time
As Yourself
(October 25, 2020)
Bottom line: Love God with all you being and he will enable you to love your neighbor as yourself.
Today Jesus gives the two great commandments: Love of God and love of neighbor. Let's focus on love of neighbor. "Love your neighbor as yourself".
C.S. Lewis asks the question: well, how do I love myself? He observes that he might detest something he has done, but that does not cause him to stop loving himself. C.S. Lewis concludes: "Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person's ultimate good as far as it can be obtained."
Let me tell you about a man who gave a powerful example of Christian love. He's one of my heroes. You may have heard of him: Daryl Davis. As a black musician he played various gigs. Once at a country gig he was the only black man present. A man approached him and invited him for a drink. Daryl accepted, although he only ordered cranberry juice. It was the man's first conversation with a black man. It led to other conversations where the man admitted his racial prejudices and Daryl refuted the stereotypes one by one. It turned out the man was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Because of his friendship with Daryl he left the white supremacist organization. Well, in the last decades Daryl converted over 200 Klansmen - including Robert Kelly the Imperial Wizard of Maryland - who gave his robe and hood to Daryl.
Daryl Davis illustrates the basic principle of Jesus' love: Hate the sin, but love the sinner. In his case he hated the sin of racism, but he loved the sinner enough that the could draw racists out of their miserable life.
Now, you and I may not do something as dramatic as Daryl Davis, but we can live Jesus' precept. We don't have to look far. G.K. Chesterton said, "The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because generally they are the same people."
St. Therese shows us the way. As a young sister in a Carmelite monastery, one of the older sisters irritated her very much. She decided whenever she was tempted to run away or speak unpleasantly, she would give the sister her best smile. This continued for weeks. One day the older nun asked her, "Sister Therese, will you please tell me what attracts you so much to me? You give me such a charming smile whenever we meet."
I can see you are smiling even under your mask. Maybe you have someone in your life like that unpleasant sister. And maybe you are asking: how was Therese able to love that person? She gives the answer:
"Ah! It was Jesus hidden in the depth of her soul who attracted me, Jesus who makes the bitterest things sweet!"
The truth is, in order to love ones neighbor, we need God. Even two people deeply in love, at some point, find that they need a Higher Power in order to persevere. If you are living with a narcissist, it may require some counseling, but ultimately you need God.
That's why Jesus said the greatest and the first commandment is: "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." And "The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
Follow those commandments and, like Daryl Davis, you will help heal our society. Follow those two commandments and like Therese of Lisieux, you will become a saint.* Love God with all you being and he will enable you to love your neighbor as yourself. Amen.
Homily from Father Alex McAllister SDS
Alexmcallister.co.uk
30 Ordinary Time
By the time of Jesus the Law had greatly expanded from the original ten commandments. One writer says that there were 613 actual Laws as well as 365 prohibitions (one for every day in the year) and 268 prescriptions (one for every bone in the body).
Obviously not all these rules and regulations were of equal weight and the rabbis constantly disputed which of them were more important than the others. So we can see where the question of the Pharisees in today’s Gospel comes from. It is not just a matter of curiosity but a point of contention among the lawyers and religious figures of the day, something which was of real importance to them.
Today we might find such a question a bit abstract and not very relevant but you have to understand that the ancient world was a very different place and their concerns were quite other than ours. They lived in a religious world dominated by the Temple and the various factions gathered around it. What to us seem obscure matters of religion were of vital importance to them.
However, the purpose of the question in today’s Gospel is not to find the answer but, as we are told, to disconcert Jesus. His questioners want to wrong-foot him; to try to find something which they can use against him.
In this and in the previous few chapters of Matthew’s Gospel, extracts of which we have had read to us over the last few weeks, the Pharisees have been trying hard to catch Jesus out. They have put questions to him like the one last week about whether taxes can be paid to Caesar. Their purpose is to look for a chink in his armour so that they can find something to use against him.
On each occasion Jesus outsmarts them. He either gives an answer they do not expect or he responds with a parable which puts them in a bad light. By now they are a bit exasperated and running out of things to ask him so they pose this question about which is the greatest commandment. In our text today Jesus gives the answer that there are two great and interrelated commandments: Love God and love your neighbour. The Pharisees perhaps seeing that they cannot get the better of him simply back off.
It is interesting that, true to form, Jesus does not use the same categories as the Pharisees in their disputations about which is the greatest commandment. They ask which one commandment is the greatest and he gives them not one commandment but two. He does not place the first above the second but says that the second is like the first.
What is interesting is his follow-up statement that it is on these two commandments that the whole Law and the Prophets hangs. In other words, this underpins the whole body of Jewish teaching. From this remarkable statement we see that the Jewish belief system is based not on rules and regulations, as the Pharisees would have us believe, but on love.
This is something that they do not expect. Yes, I am certain that the Pharisees love their wives and their children but it is obvious that their personal religion is not based on love; rather it is based on the observance of rules and regulations. In a word, their religion is mechanical: according to their way of thinking if you observe this set of rituals or that set of behaviours then you will be righteous in the eyes of God.
What Jesus proposes is something that they have completely overlooked. For all their study of the scriptures the Pharisees have failed to notice the great pillar on which their religion is based, namely love. They have not understood what the true nature of God really is. They do not realise that the sole motivating force of God is love. They do not understand that what God wants from us is for us to simply love him and our fellow creatures.
The Pharisees did not understand this simple equation. We realise that their failure to appreciate this important point is very reason why Jesus came into our world. He came to make sure that we perfectly understand just what God is like and what we need to do in order to live with him forever. The message of Jesus, to use the beautiful phrase of St John, is that ‘God is love and those who live in love live in God and God lives in them’.
The task then of anyone who wants to be one with God is to learn to become a good lover in the very broadest sense of that term. What we ought to be striving for is to deepen our care and concern for and our appreciation of all those around us and to be constantly reaching out to God in our prayer as well as in our good works.
What we need therefore is profound passion in our lives, a deep and warm and powerful love for our God and our fellow human beings. This word passion is very interesting because its roots are in the word suffering. When, for example, we speak of Christ’s Passion we mean his suffering on the Cross but we recognise that the motivation for his suffering is his great love for us and his concern that we should have the way to heaven opened up for us.
There is no room for a cold Christian; there is no space in the Church for a stony-hearted Christian. These concepts are complete contradictions. What we are long for is passionate, warm and loving Christians; members of the Church who care deeply about the welfare of those around them. We want Christians whose hearts are moved by the sufferings that they see and who want to do whatever they can to help to build a better world.
When we describe someone as passionate we mean that they are excited and ardent about whatever it is that gets them going. In society at large we can see many passionate people in sport, in the arts, in politics and many other areas of life. It is hard for anyone to achieve a measure of success in a particular sphere without being passionate about what they do.
However, what we are considering here is Christianity. And what we are talking about goes far beyond a particular sport or a political viewpoint. What we are talking about is the most important thing that exists; namely God himself. We are speaking about the greatest kind of love that there is, the love of God and flowing from this the love of our neighbour.
If we can harness a deep passion for the things of heaven in our lives then there is nothing we cannot do; no place we cannot go; no door that can ever be closed to us, least of all the door of heaven.
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