30th
Sunday in Ordinary Time – October 29, 2017
I
–If you wrong the widow and the orphan, my wrath will flare up against you.
R
–I love you, Lord, my strength.
II
– You turned from idols to serve the living and true God and to await his Son
from heaven.
A
– Whoever loves me will keep my word, says the Lord, and my Father will love
him and we will come to him.
G –You
shall love the Lord your God and your neighbor as yourself.
+ The readings today are obviously about the most important
dynamic and energy in existence and that is the dynamic and energy of love. It
was the expansive love of God that spawned
creation; love is the dynamic and energy that keeps creation in existence; it is the very life of God in Himself that he shares with us, the highest form of
his creation: he treats us Person to person with, in and for love’s sake. And
so, today, when questioned by a “scholar of the law” Jesus responds with full
knowledge that because God first has loved humanity, that humanity should love
God back fully with their whole being, and then others as themselves. You are
highly thought of – beloved children of God!
Now the scholars were asking
this question of Jesus to test and trick him: they wanted to accuse him of trying
to “steal God’s thunder” – to place himself as the focus of attention in an
inappropriate way: as though Jesus was doing all he was doing to make a name
for himself, to make for himself an earthly kingdom; however, he did all always for us and for our salvation, and in obedience to God his Father, for his glory.
What is clear in Jesus’
rendition of his answer is that loving
God is the most important thing we can do, and loving others, genuinely, from the heart is equal to that, as we love ourselves. Love is love, and the
dynamic and energy flow freely in an authentic love relationship.
In the first reading today we
see Moses encouraging the people to “take care of one another” – now that they
have been loved and freed from slavery by God. Do not wrong the orphan or the widow – for I hear their cry – and if
you do, then the same fate will visit your family! Be kind and generous with
your neighbors – for God compassionately deals with you the same way!
The power of love is amazing!
But we must remember, it has its own rules and techniques: it is up to us to
find out about those rules so we can live them: the readings at Mass, and the
homily are one way to find out about them; putting what we find out into action
is another. Love is a verb: to truly know what it means is that we “live to give” as did Jesus. He was love incarnate and he gave, and gave,
and gave it all. May we give and give
and give all of ourselves as well – and we will assuredly be honored by Jesus,
and live forever with God in a place he has prepared for us!
Whoever
loves me will keep my word, says the Lord, and my Father will love him and we
will come to him.
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