View the readings for this Sunday.
Sunday, Nov. 4, 2018 - 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Dt 6:2-6
Ps 18:2-3, 3-4, 47, 51
2 Heb 7:23-28
Mk 12:28B-34
By Marc Massery
The readings this weekend talk about what everyone wants most - love. But in order to get it, we must give it away- first to God and then to neighbor.
In the Gospel reading this weekend, a scribe comes up to Jesus and asks which is the greatest commandment. Echoing Moses, Jesus says, "The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength" (Mk 12:29-30).
Just about every pious Jew at the time would have concurred with Jesus, that this dictum, also known as the "Shema Israel," was the essence of their faith. But Jesus had something else to add. He continued, "The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Mk 12:31).
According to Scripture scholar William Barclay, Jesus was the first Rabbi to connect these two sayings. This enhanced commandment implies that we can't truly love our neighbor unless we love God. This makes sense because after all, God is the source of love. How we treat our neighbors, therefore, says a lot about how much we love Him.
The scribe concurs with Jesus' response, and adds that love of God and neighbor "is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices" (Mk 12:33). This statement rightly implies that performing acts of sacrifice and worship does not necessarily mean one loves God.
Even if we go to Mass, give our money to the Church, perform works of mercy, and pray the Rosary, we do these things in vain if we do not allow them to lead us to grow in our capacity to love - to truly love.
Sacrifice without love does not require much effort from us. Pure love, though, inevitably leads us to sacrifice - leads us to do things like go to Mass and perform works of mercy.
Saint Faustina describes pure love in her Diary in the following way:
Pure love is capable of great deeds, and it is not broken by difficulty or adversity. As it remains strong in the midst of great difficulties, so too it perseveres in the toilsome and drab life of each day. It knows that only one thing is needed to please God: to do even the smallest things out of great love - love, and always love.
Pure love never errs. Its light is strangely plentiful. It will not do anything that might displease God. It is ingenious at doing what is more pleasing to God, and no one will equal it. It is happy when it can empty itself and burn like a pure offering. The more it gives of itself, the happier it is. But also, no one can sense dangers from afar as can love; it knows how to unmask and also knows with whom it has to deal (140).
Only when we grow in our love for God - striving to please Him above all else - can we truly love our neighbors. But the more we give, the more we get. The more we learn to love Him, the more we will want to give this love away to others. Finally, the more we come to know His love, the more we will see Him loving us through our brothers and sisters in Christ.
View the previous Sunday Scripture Preview.
