Let Love Motivate Our Every Word and Deed

10-31-2021Weekly ReflectionFr. Anthony Okolo, C.S.Sp

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord Our God, is the Lord alone, Therefore, you should love the Lord your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today.” These were the words of Moses to the Israelites in today’s first reading from the book of Deuteronomy. It is called Jewish shema perhaps one of the most recited and most beloved prayer of Judaism. The prayer proclaims the oneness of God and the basis of the Jewish pure monotheism. The most amazing thing about this is that Jews proclaim this oneness of God at a time when all other countries around them embraced polytheism. For the Jews, this God demands wholehearted love and devotion above any other acts of worship. It is this absolute confidence in the oneness of God that Moses enjoins his people to have and that with that their lives would be prolonged. In the same way, our observance of God’s commandment guarantees our loyalty to God. When we give God true and undivided devotion and worship, we become more of what God wants us to be because we are created in his image and likeness.

The second reading presents us with Our Lord Jesus Christ who is the Eternal High Priest, our sole Mediator before God the Father and the human race. His priesthood is eternal, so His one Sacrifice suffices for all time. Jesus’ priesthood is different for the Levitical priests who offer sacrifices day after day for themselves and the people but Jesus offers one single sacrifice for us when He offered Himself at the cross. Every other sacrifice we might make is subsumed in the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. The greatest sacrifice we can offer God is our observance of His commandment which is a commandment of love to Him and for our fellow brothers and sisters. We can demonstrate our appreciation for the sacrifice of Jesus for us by making us His beloved brothers and sisters even when we do not deserve it on account of our sins on how we care for each other.

In today’s gospel we witness another encounter between Jesus and a young scribe. Two weeks ago it was between Jesus and a young rich man, today it was with a Jewish scribe of the law. He wanted to know which of the commandments is the first and most important of all the other commandments. His quest was a result of the various interpretations given by different schools of thoughts within Judaism. Moses gave them the ten commandments, but religious scholars, teachers and scribes in their interpretations of the law expanded the commandments to 613 precepts while David reduced it to 11 in Psalm 15. Thus,with these different nuances there were conflicting opinions on where rest the most importance of the commandments.

Jesus in response to the question summarized the whole law under love of God and love of neighbor. In effect Jesus was asked for one commandment, but He gave two to demonstrate that they are inseparable. What Jesus did was to take the shema known to every Jew which they recite every day and carry around to include that of the neighbor. No one has ever done it except Jesus and in doing so made the shema something that binds us with God and our fellow human beings together. What Jesus is telling us with His response is that love is what should be at the center of every activity. When all our words and deeds are motivated by love of God and love of neighbor, we will truly be living as members of the kingdom of God. There is no way we can claim we truly love God without that love transcending to our fellow brothers and sisters. According to St. John, If anyone says “I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen”. 1 Jn 4:20. If we follow the commandment of love, we will keep the other commandments. Love of God is a matter of giving God our trust, our time and our obedience. At times we confuse warm feelings or friendly feelings with love, but love is a matter of what one does rather what one feels. Dear friends, Jesus invites us in today’s liturgy to evaluate how our love for God finds expression in our words, deeds and actions to our brothers and sisters we encounter on a daily basis.

Happy Sunday to you all,

Fr. Tony Okolo

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