30th Sunday in Ordinary Time
October 25, 2026
How well do I love God and neighbor?
GOSPEL
Matthew 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."
REFLECTIONS ON THE GOSPEL
First Impressions by Jude Siciliano, OP
The Pharisees show up frequently in the Gospels, don't they? Usually, they are portrayed as opponents of Jesus, sometimes violently so. Yet some Pharisees were sympathetic to Jesus. Paul was once a Pharisee, as was Nicodemus, who came to Jesus by night. There were approximately 6,000 Pharisees in Jesus' time. The name Pharisee is generally understood to mean “separated ones.” They sought to distinguish themselves through their observance of the Law and the traditions of their ancestors. Some looked down on ordinary people, whom they considered insufficiently observant of the Law. These people were sometimes referred to as the “people of the land.” The Pharisees were primarily laypeople, although some priests may also have belonged to the movement. They zealously sought to preserve the teachings of the Law and the traditions of their ancestors. They strove to protect the integrity of those teachings. To keep people from violating the Law, they developed additional rules and interpretations that served as a kind of “fence” around it. But how could an ordinary shepherd, housekeeper, or butcher possibly observe all those regulations? A person who wanted to be faithful to God might turn to a Pharisee or rabbi for guidance. Perhaps that helps us understand the question put to Jesus in today's Gospel: “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” In other words: “Help me understand God's Law. Sum it up for me.” According to a traditional saying, a teacher might be asked to summarize the Law while standing on one foot. The answer would have to be brief and to the point. Jesus recognized the importance of the Pharisees' zeal for the Law. His criticism was directed especially at religious hypocrisy and the tendency of some to look down on ordinary people. Some appeared to believe that their strict observance of the Law put them in especially good standing with God. Matthew tells us that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees. They approached him with their question: “Teacher, which commandment of the law is the greatest?” It is almost as if they were saying, “Standing on one foot, Rabbi, can you sum up all God's commands and all the rules and regulations handed down by our teachers?” Jesus responds with a brief and pointed statement: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” In other words, love God with your whole being. The Pharisees would have recognized this commandment. Jesus was not making it up; he was drawing from Deuteronomy 6:5. It is part of the central Jewish prayer known as the Shema, named after its opening Hebrew word, meaning “Hear.” Jesus declares this the greatest and first commandment. But he does not stop there. He joins it to a second commandment from Leviticus: the command to love one's neighbor as oneself. He takes these two teachings and brings them together. The message is clear: “Love God with your whole being. Express your love for God by loving your neighbor. You cannot separate one from the other. Where do we find the Image of God?Jewish tradition forbids the making of images of God. This distinguished Israel's worship from that of many neighboring peoples, who worshiped their gods through images and statues. Imagine a pagan asking a Jew, “Where is your image of God?” A Jewish response might be: “Look at the human person. We are made in the image of God.” In other words, the image of God is reflected in every human being. That is the connection we can draw from Jesus' teaching in today's Gospel. How can we, as human beings, pay proper homage to an invisible God? How can we honor God in our world and in our daily lives? Jesus shows us how. He takes the commandment to love God with our whole being and joins it to the commandment to love our neighbor. In effect, he tells us: “If you want to love the God you cannot see, love the human being you can see.” Each human person bears the image of God and deserves to be treated with dignity.
A Reminder on Our Doorposts.
Let us return for a moment to the central Jewish teaching Jesus quotes. The Shema includes these words: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.” In Jewish homes, a small container called a mezuzah is traditionally affixed to the doorpost. It contains a parchment scroll inscribed with passages from the Torah, including the Shema. The scroll is carefully prepared by a trained scribe. The mezuzah is placed on the doorpost at an angle. Some Jews touch or kiss it as they leave their homes and as they return. We might imagine the prayer accompanying that gesture: “As I leave my home, may I live in the world in a way that reflects my love and devotion to God and God's ways.” and...As I return home, may I show that same love and devotion in the way I treat my family and all those who enter my home. Inspired by this Jewish tradition, we might write the commandment Jesus gave the Pharisee on a special piece of paper or card and place it somewhere we will see it as we leave and enter our homes. We might even kiss it as a reminder of Jesus' central teaching: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. ...You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Just a brief look at the Exodus reading for it is relevance these days. In Exodus, God gives the Israelites a clear command: “You shall not molest or oppress an alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.” God reminds the people that they know what it means to be strangers in a foreign land, to live with uncertainty, and to depend on the kindness of others. This message speaks powerfully to us Christians today as we encounter immigrants seeking safety, work, and a better future for their families. Whatever their country of origin or legal circumstances, immigrants are human beings with dignity, families, hopes, and fears. They are not simply a political issue; they are our brothers and sisters. The central question is not simply, “Where do these people come from?” but “How are we treating them?” God reminds us that our faith must be visible in the way we treat the vulnerable. When we defend the dignity of immigrants, listen to their stories, and respond to their needs, we put God's command into practice.The stranger among us may be precisely the person through whom God asks us to demonstrate the love of Christ.
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Quotable
“Every migrant is a person,” and therefore has “inalienable rights that must be respected in every situation.”—Pope Leo XIV
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Justice Bulletin Board by Barbara Molinari Quinby, MPS, Director Office of Human Life, Dignity, and Justice Ministries, Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, Raleigh, NC
“You shall not wrong any widow or orphan.”—Exodus 22:21
I once read that the greatness of a nation rests in how that nation cares for children. Children are the future and, if they are in peril, so is that future. Pope Leo writes a beautiful message for last month’s 112th World Day of Migrants & Refugees” titled, “Even Just One of These Children (cf. Mt 18:10).” He writes: My thoughts turn to the words of Jesus that profoundly challenge our consciences: “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me” (Mt 18:5). It is not a question of numbers or statistics. The Gospel invites us not to calculate even one. Every child, every human being, possesses an infinite dignity. Each is created in the image and likeness of God (cf. Gen 1:26); each is a presence of the Lord. Before every migrant child, we are called to make an act of humanity and faith, for we are able to welcome and encounter the Lord. This call becomes even more pressing in the light of another of the Lord’s affirmations in the Gospel of Matthew: “I was a stranger and you welcomed me” (Mt 25:35). Sadly, migrant children are more easily ignored, because they lack adults capable of protecting and supporting them. It is necessary, then, to intervene in their countries of origin in order to remove the causes that compel them to flee, while at the same time offering protection and welcome in the countries of transit and destination. The cry of displaced children rises to God today, just as did the cry heard in the Book of Exodus [Ex 3:7–8] . . .God hears their cry and, in order to bring about liberation, he forcefully appeals to the conscience and action of each one of us, just as he did with Moses. We cannot remain indifferent, nor can we become accustomed to such suffering. Message of the Holy Father for the 112th World Day of Migrants and Refugees 2026 Imagine if our nation truly treasured children. There would have been no child slaves from the inception of our country; no Trail of Tears; no child labor especially during the Industrial Revolution; no child trafficking; and no child who is hungry, homeless, lacking medical care, caught in generational poverty or in jail for fleeing their country of origin. Will we ever be a nation that values the lives of children by restoring the natural world to full health for future generations of children? We cannot remain indifferent.
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Faith Book
Mini-reflections on the Sunday scripture readings designed for persons on the run. “Faith Book” is also brief enough to be posted in the Sunday parish bulletins people take home.
From today’s Gospel reading: "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.
Reflection: The way we know that we are living Jesus’ commandment of total dedication to God, who is unseen, is to make that love visible by loving our neighbor as self. Jesus’ life shows us whom he considered his neighbor. Besides his disciples and friends, neighbor for Jesus included the least likely, the overlooked, the vulnerable and the people who are usually described in stereotypes.
So, we ask ourselves:
Is God at my center, the inspiration and impetus behind my thoughts, feelings and actions?
Who is the surprising neighbor Jesus is calling me to love?
And how shall I share Jesus’ love with that person(s)
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I have a picture on my wall, a gift from a rabbi. It shows her blessing an unfurled scroll of the Torah. The scroll was old and tattered, so the community removed it from the tabernacle and from its beautiful cloth covering. They had it restored, but before putting it back into the tabernacle, they blessed and rededicated it. This is how they did it. With the congregation assembled in the synagogue they unrolled the scroll and encircled the community with it -- some members of the
community, wearing white gloves, held the scroll, all the rest were inside the circle made by the unfurled scroll. The rabbi, dressed in liturgical robes and on the inside of the circle with the community, is shown in the process of rededicating the scroll before putting it back in the tabernacle. A member of the congregation said, “We couldn’t just put it away, after all it’s not an antique, a dead book. It’s the living Word of God.” The community was also rededicated along with the scroll. Another symbol, or sign of the Jewish community’s dedication to God’s Word, is also evident, closer to home -- in fact, at the entrance to Jewish homes. It is the mezuzah, a cylinder that is placed on the doorpost of a home. It contains a scriptural quote. For example, the one Jesus quotes in part today, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone! Therefore you shall love the Lord, our God, with all your heart and all your soul and with all your strength” (Dt. 6:4). Where I grew up I used to see my Jewish neighbors kiss their fingers and then touch the mezuzah on entering and leaving their homes. Such is the devotion to God’s Word by our Jewish sisters and brothers: to encircle a community of worshipers with the written word; to kiss it as they come and go each day from their homes. Of course the mazuzah is not a good luck charm, nor kissing it mere superstition, but an expression of their desire to live a life guided by and strengthened by God’s Word, as part of a community, in their homes and beyond. When asked about the greatest commandment Jesus quoted the central
commandment of Jewish faith, the one posted on the door frames. Then he takes another teaching, one among many more in the Old Testament, and places it alongside the first. Total love of God is the first commandment and joined to it, love of neighbor as yourself. If a pagan were to ask a Jew, “Where is your image of God?” They would respond, “In God’s image we were made.” I.e. “The image of our God is to be found in each human being.” That’s what Jesus is implying in today’s gospel. How can we mere humans pay proper homage to an invisible God in our world, in our daily life? Jesus shows us how. He takes the command about loving God with all of ourselves and puts with it the love of neighbor. As Scripture suggests elsewhere: if you want to love the God you can not see, love the human you can see. Each of us is a dwelling place of God, “In God’s image we were made.” As I write this Israel is about to invade Gaza. Thousands have died on
both sides, and thousands more will die from violence, hunger, destroyed hospitals, missals, etc. Do both sides see what both believe, “In God’s image we are made.” I shed tears watching the nightly news of the war. I have no easy answers, none are possible. From this distance I can pray and send messages to my government representatives -- “Don’t forget the
civilians caught in the middle. Don’t forget to work for peace!” For a narrative preaching the preacher might pick a favorite saint, or one relevant to the local community and show how they were characterized by an intense love of God and neighbor. For example, one of our great Dominican Saints was Rose of Lima. She was born in Lima Peru in 1586 and her name was Isabel. But they called her Rose because of her extraordinary beauty. She was besieged by suitors. The parents hoped for a “good marriage;” a good financial arrangement, because they needed the money. Rose longed for the day when she could live for God alone. Her model was Catherine of Siena (another great woman Dominican). Catherine
spent three years in her parent’s home under a staircase in constant prayer. Rose imitated Catherine, moved into a little hut in the garden and devoted herself to constant prayer. Remember, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart with all your soul, and with all your mind.” But like Catherine, Christ urged Rose out and she practiced works of mercy for the poor, the indigenous and slaves. In addition, she wasn’t just concerned about personal sin, but social sin; the Spanish had
conquered and oppressed the natives. Rose had wanted to love God with all her heart, with all her soul with all her mind and she did that by devoting her heart, soul and mind to loving her neighbor. Just like us gathered in worship, Rose was encircled by the Word of God and it was as if she kissed that Word and was guided by it in her going to and coming from serving others. These two women show us what God’s grace can accomplish within us; that we mere humans are capable, with God—of loving God with all our heart, soul and mind -- and our neighbor as our self. The first reading from Exodus shows that God has always been especially concerned about the neediest in society. Today’s selection comes from a
section in Exodus called the “Book of the Covenant,” which is a teaching of social ethics based, not on laws, but on compassion. For those in most need, laws that prohibit certain acts are not enough to protect them. Because the Israelites experienced God’s compassion when they were slaves in Egypt and as they traveled through the desert they, in turn,
were to be compassionate to those in similar need. Their laws were to reflect the compassion they received. For example, they were to remember that they were once aliens in Egypt, so they were not to wrong the alien, or stranger in their own land. What does that say to our current refugee crisis here at our borders and those bused to our cities? The media coverage of our own border situation these days has made us aware of the dire circumstances of those who have had to leave their homes because of poverty and violence to find refuge in our country. Strangers and immigrants in a strange land are vulnerable to abuse and being taken advantage of. They have left the support of their families, culture and familiar surroundings in an attempt to flee their homeland and find protection. In many ways they are like the Israelites in Egypt, strangers in a foreign land and totally dependent on the hospitality of its native people—us.
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Quotes from Pope Francis on the Synod
“The journey of synodality is the journey that God wants from his church
in the third millennium.”“A synodal church is a listening church, aware that listening is more
than hearing. It is a reciprocal listening in which each one has
something to learn.”“The protagonist of the Synod -- the Spirit.”
“Communion, participation, mission.”
“All are called to participate.”
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Justice Bulletin Board Barbara Molinari Quinby, MPS, Director, Office of Human Life, Dignity, and Justice Ministries Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral Raleigh, NC
You shall not molest or oppress an alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.—Exodus 22:20
I had an argument awhile back with my cousin who was upset by the children at our border. He thought we should send them back. I had to remind him that our own grandmother came to this country as an unaccompanied teenager at the turn of the last century. She worked as a maid in the household that took her in. I am so grateful that she had the courage to make the trip and that this country didn’t turn her away. She and my grandfather raised four children and their two sons, my uncles, both served our country in World War II. My grandmother’s parents sent her to America to escape death by tuberculosis that was sweeping Poland. The families at our borders today are facing death by drug gangs and the hopelessness of extreme poverty. It takes so much courage to do what they are doing, to leave loved ones, to cross unknown paths. And isn’t courage, a value that our country reveres? We have a broken immigration system that is long overdue for a legislative overhaul. Meanwhile, many migrants and/or refugees suffer and are dehumanized. Towns at the border of our country are struggling to respond. As Catholics, we believe that everyone is made in the image of God and deserving of respect. This is a complicated problem in need of well-thought-out solutions. Cardinal Blase Cupich recently commemorated the 40th anniversary of his predecessor Cardinal Joseph Bernardin's "consistent ethic of life " speech at the site of that 1983 address, Fordham University. During the speech, Cupich proposed an “integral ethic of solidarity.” Cupich said, "that [this] ethic grounds our respect for life both interpersonally and within the human family. Solidarity points to the interconnectedness of all human beings, to the unity that they should strive for, and the responsibility for the common good that we all share. Solidarity is a moral virtue. It is a disposition of gratitude to God for the gifts he
bestows upon us, and of service to those who suffer" (ncronline.org 9/27/2023). We need more standing together as fellow human beings these days. Perhaps, solidarity could become a basis of all discussions around this issue of immigration. Here at Cathedral, we have a Justice for Immigrants group that works with Catholic Charities. We would like to have more people willing to advocate for reform. Contact Luisa Martin-Price at socialconcern@hnojnc.org.
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Faith Book
Mini-reflections on the Sunday scripture readings designed for persons on the run. “Faith Book” is also brief enough to be posted in the Sunday parish bulletins people take home.
From today’s Gospel reading: Jesus said... “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.
Reflection: The way we know that we are living Jesus’ commandment of total dedication to God, who is unseen, is to make that love visible by loving our neighbor as self. Jesus’ life shows us whom he considered his neighbor. Besides his disciples and friends, neighbor for Jesus included the least likely, the overlooked, the vulnerable and the people who are usually described in stereotypes.
So we ask ourselves:
Is God at my center, the inspiration and impetus behind my thoughts, feelings and actions?
Who is the surprising neighbor Jesus is calling me to love?
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ENCOUNTER CHRIST REFLECTIONS AND MEDITATIONS
Preparation for the Session
Presence of God: Jesus, As I come to you today, fill my heart, my whole being, with the wonder of your sacred presence. Help me to become more aware of your presence in my life, and more receptive to that presence. I desire to love you as you love me. May nothing ever separate me from you. (1-2 minutes of silence)
Freedom: Jesus, Grant me the grace to have freedom of spirit. Keep me from being bound by desires and actions that are not good for me or others. Cleanse my heart and soul that I may live joyously in your love. (1-2 minutes of silence)
Consciousness: Where am I with God? With others in my life? What am I grateful for? Is there something I am sorry for, words or actions that have hurt others, and which I now regret? I take a moment to ask forgiveness of God and of those whom I have hurt. God, I give you thanks for your constant love and care for me. Keep me always aware of your presence in my life. (2-3 minutes of silence)
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Opening Prayer
From Thomas Merton:
Teach me to go to this country beyond words and beyond names.
Teach me to pray on this side of the frontier, here where these woods are.
I need to be led by you.
I need my heart to be moved by you.
I need my soul to be made clean by your prayer. I need my will to be made strong by you.
I need the world to be saved and changed by you.
I need you for all those who suffer, who are in prison, in danger, in sorrow.
I need you for all the crazy people.
I need your healing hand to work always in my life.
I need you to make me, as you made your Son, a healer, a comforter, a savior.
I need you to name the dead.
I need you to help the dying cross their particular rivers.
I need you for myself whether I live or die.
It is necessary.
Amen
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Companions for the Journey
from " America", the national Jesuit Weekly magazine:
If you look up the word “love” in a dictionary, you will find something like this: Love means having an interest in and a warm regard for another, and wishing good for the other. That definition is satisfactory, though a bit flat and dull. This Sunday’s Scripture readings can help us fill out the dictionary definition and deepen our understanding of the biblical concept of love. In today’s reading from Matthew 22, Jesus is challenged to choose the greatest among the 613 commandments in the Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament). He names two: love of God (Dt 6:4-5) and love of neighbor (Lv 19:18). These commandments cover two dimensions of the biblical concept of love. The third dimension—God’s love for us—is even more basic. God’s love for us is the fundamental presupposition of the entire Bible. God has loved us first, and so we can and should love God in return. God’s love has been made manifest in God’s gift of creation, in the choice of Israel as God’s people, in sending Jesus to us and in giving us life and the promise of eternal life. The theological virtue of love has its origin in God. Those who have experienced God’s love can love God and others in return. The excerpts from Psalm 18, today’s responsorial psalm, express dramatically the experience of someone who has encountered God’s love and loves God in return. The psalmist proclaims, “I love you, O Lord” and describes the experience of God as the ultimate source of security and hope with a long list of images: strength, rock, fortress, deliverer, rock of refuge, shield, horn of salvation and stronghold. The key to keeping the two commandments to love God and to love one’s neighbor is the recognition that God has loved us first. The commandment to love God, which is known as the Shema (“Hear, O Israel”) and is a quotation of Dt 6:4-5, was (and is) part of Jewish daily prayer. The text suggests that our love for God must be total, involving all aspects (heart, soul and mind) of our person. The theological virtue of love has God as its object. The commandment to love one’s neighbor (Lv 19:18) is part of what is known as the biblical Holiness Code. It challenges us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. While lack of self-esteem is a serious problem for some today, most of us are pretty good at taking care of ourselves (or at least we think we are). The challenge of the second love commandment is for us to take something of the care and concern that we instinctively show for ourselves, and to apply it to others. Whom should we love? Who is our neighbor? Today’s reading from Exodus 22 provides us with some examples. The neighbor includes not only family members and friends but also aliens or strangers, widows, orphans, the poor and the very neediest in society. In the New Testament parable of the Good Samaritan and other texts, Jesus pushes the definition of neighbor to include even enemies. In this framework the neighbor is not necessarily someone who can offer us repayment or provide some advantage for us. Love of neighbor is not simply enlightened self-interest. Rather, we should love our neighbor because God has loved us first, and in loving our neighbor we respond to God’s love for us and repay that love. Jesus ends the conversation with the Pharisees by claiming that the whole Law and the prophets depend on these two commandments. The idea is that if we truly observe the two love commandments, to love God and love the neighbor, all the other commandments will be carried out naturally, as it were. Observing the biblical love commandments is in the final analysis an expression of faith. The biblical concept of love is far richer and deeper than any dictionary definition can supply.—by Daniel J. Harrington, S.J.
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Living the Good News
What action can you take in the next week as a response to today's reading and discussion? Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions which follow.
Reflection Questions:
By Daniel Harrington, S.J.:
How do you define love?
In what moments in your life have you experienced God’s love for you?
Why should you love your neighbor?
Where does faith come in?
Do I realize that my love of God is preceded by God’s all-encompassing love of me?
Which of the three: God, self, neighbor, is the hardest for me to love?
Has there been anyone it was tough to love this week?
Is it sometimes easier to love those who are not in our faces every day, or those who pose no threat to our comfort and well-being?
Have you ever, in spite of your emotional inclinations, treated someone as you wanted to be treated, not as (s)he deserved? How did it make you feel?
Is there only one way to love one another as God has loved us?
“Love one another as I have loved you”—why is this a particularly high, or as some might say, impossible, standard?
Why is God’s love, which is spontaneous, unforced and always there, so different from human love?
In this world’s history, we have refused to recognize whole groups of people who are our neighbors, equally loved by God (Jews, African Americans, immigrants and refugees, the mentally or physically disabled, drug addicts, people on the other side of the political divide, for example). What in the world today exemplifies this lack of love, hatred even, for the other”
We are only about 6% of the world’s population, but we consume more than 33% of the world’s goods. How is this loving others as ourselves?
Do we love those in our lives just as they are, or do we try to change them?
By Jude Siciliano, O.P.:
What do you need to do in order to love God with all your heart, soul and mind?
What can you do to love yourself without being selfish?
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Closing Prayer
Keep me, above all things, from sin
Keep me from love of anything that is not you: money, attention, power, reputation.
Keep me from avarice and ambition and lack of concern for others.
Keep me from anything that is not ordained by your will.
Let me rest in your love and your grace.
That is enough for me.
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For the Week Ahead
Weekly Memorization
Taken from the gospel for today's session:
The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments:
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.
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Meditations
A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:
Too often, we focus on the second great commandment. However, Thomas Merton considers the commandment to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind: We are what we love. If we love God, in whose image we were created, we discover ourselves in God and we cannot help being happy; we have already achieved something of the fullness of being for which we were destined in our creation. If we love everything else but God, we contradict the image born in our very essence, and we cannot help being unhappy, because we are living a caricature of what we were meant to be. In what ways do I personally fall short of the complete love I am called to? Do I condition my love of God on whether I feel God has been good to me or answers my prayers? Do I sometimes get distracted by my business and worries and shove God to the background of my life? Is my heart too full of other “loves” to find room for Jesus? How much time do I spend each day in conversation with the Lord?
A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:
Thomas Merton once said” Lord, I have not live like a contemplative. The first essential is missing. I only say I trust you. My actions prove that the one I trust is myself—and that I am still afraid of you”. The question that this raises is how can you love what you fear? (Do we love atomic power or fear it? Do we love a baby or fear it? Do we love our mother or fear her? Do I act kindly toward my neighbor out of love for my neighbor or out of fear God’s punishments if I do not?). Our motivations for our behavior and actions are often mixed, aren’t they? Do I act the way I do because I love God or because I fear God and God’s punishments? What is Jesus telling me about this in today’s passage? How do I move from fear to love?
A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Relationship:
Read Psalm 15—
Lord, who shall be admitted to your tent and dwell on your holy mountain?
Those who walk without fault, those who act with justice,
and speak the truth from their hearts, those who do not slander with their tongue,
those who do no wrong to their kindred, who cast no slur on their neighbors,
who hold the godless in distain, but honor those who fear the Lord;
those who keep their word, come what may,
and take no interest on a loan and accept no bribes against the innocent.
Such people will stand firm forever.
Now consider the following: Not everyone who says to me 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my father in heaven. (Matthew 7-22)
Both this quote and Psalm 15 have plenty to say about what one must do to enter the kingdom of God. They insist that we must treat people with justice, tell the truth, refuse to harm anyone, be generous, be forgiving, and keep our word. We meet God not on a mountaintop but in our personal relationships. Unfortunately, these relationships often suffer when we are preoccupied or stressed. We ought to treat our family members with the courtesy we treat our friends, and treat our friends with the respect we afford our professors or bosses. Whoever said: “Love means never having to say you’re sorry” got it all wrong. Which of your personal relationships would not stand up to the scrutiny of Psalm 15? What can you do to correct it? Speak to God about this. Be honest and open.
A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:
Read the first reading for this Sunday from the Book of Exodus—Thus says the LORD: "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."
In this world of ours, where has humanity fallen short of the ideal, particularly concerning immigrants and strangers, those who are poor and need help, those who have suffered losses of friends or family and need a lot of compassion? Read the famous tract from Corinthians 13 and Paul’s description of love. Where have you fallen short of the ideal? What people in your life are you finding it hard to love—those who are demanding, annoying, those taking more than their share of my attention, time or money, those seeming extra needy in one way or another? How does the current pandemic make you short on patience and generosity? Take your intentions and failures to Jesus, who understands, and pick one difficult relationship and pray this week for patience, for the openness to love that God shows every day.
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Poetic Reflection
How does this poem by former Stanford Stegner Fellow Thomas Centollela relate to today’s gospel?
In the Evening We Shall Be Examined on Love—St. John of the Cross
And it won't be multiple choice,
though some of us would prefer it that way.
Neither will it be essay, which tempts us to run on
when we should be sticking to the point, if not together.
In the evening there shall be implications
our fear will turn to complications. No cheating,
we'll be told and we'll try to figure the cost of being true
to ourselves. In the evening when the sky has turned
that certain blue, blue of exam books, blue of no more
daily evasions, we shall climb the hill as the light empties
and park our tired bodies on a bench above the city
and try to fill in the blanks. And we won't be tested
like defendants on trial, cross-examined
till one of us breaks down, guilty as charged. No,
in the evening, after the day has refused to testify,
we shall be examined on love like students
who don't even recall signing up for the course
and now must take their orals, forced to speak for once
from the heart and not off the top of their heads.
And when the evening is over and it's late,
the student body asleep, even the great teachers
retired for the night, we shall stay up
and run back over the questions, each in our own way:
what's true, what's false, what unknown quantity
will balance the equation, what it would mean years from now
to look back and know
we did not fail.
