November 3, 2024

31^st Sunday in Ordinary Time   

“Struggling with Part Two”

Msgr. Thomas Gervasio

 
In the Gospel of the past few Sundays, we have met individuals who stop Jesus as he makes his way to Jerusalem: the rich young man seeking the path to salvation; James and John lobbying for places of honor in the kingdom; and blind Bartimaeus hoping to see!
 
Today, a scribe asks Jesus to render a legal opinion: “Which is the first of all the commandments?” Now there were 613 precepts in the Mosaic Law! Which is the most important? Jesus replies by quoting the Shemá, from Deuteronomy: “Shemá Israel—Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” But Jesus does not stop there. He unites this commandment to one from Leviticus: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” He makes them inseparable. Love of God goes hand in hand with love of neighbor. We cannot have one without the other.
 
We can understand the first part of this now single commandment. Coming to Mass today is an act of love for God. Daily prayer, Confession, reading Scripture are ways we show our love for God.
 
It’s the second part with which we struggle. Some people are easy to love—those who are good to us, those whose company we enjoy. But Jesus said, “If you love those who love you, what merit is there in that?” What about those people we find unlovable…those who have wronged or hurt us? What of the difficult, annoying people, who get under our skin? Isn’t it true that we try to avoid them as much as possible, thinking they don’t deserve our love? But is this the Christian response? How do we fulfill this precept?
 
Prayer—not for God to rain down fire and brimstone upon them…but for God to soften our own heart so that anger or resentment give way to kindness and understanding and to ask God to work in their hearts as well.
 
Another way—keep guard over our speech. When we find someone difficult, it is easy to fall into the sin of gossip or calumny. Ah, be careful! Let’s not be blind to our own shortcomings and sins. Cardinal Basil Hume was brutally honest about his own when he wrote, “In a very bad moment, I think about the relief my demise will bring to some people. I do worry about the insensitive and clumsy ways I have handled some people, about my selfishness…‘Don’t forget,’ I once heard a great Abbot say, ‘when you are dead, somebody will be relieved…’”
 
Realizing our own foibles, we should be silent about those of others. Better to look within before looking around! I like the rhyme: “There is so much good in the worst of us and so much bad in the best of us that it behooves none of us to talk about the rest of us!”
 
Did you ever notice—when we learn that a disagreeable person rather likes or admires us, our attitude toward them changes. If that person admires me, he can’t be so bad!
 
Fulfilling the command to love is not for weaklings. It takes strength, courage, and patience. Let us pray for these: 

Lord, you have said that to truly love you we must also love our neighbor, which can be difficult. Help us look at others as if through your eyes, to be less judgmental and more loving. Help us realize that others are not perfect. Like every person, they are a work in progress. Help us put aside our preconceptions about others so that we might discover that they are loved by you as fully and intimately as we are. In your compassionate heart there is a place for everyone. May our love for you move us to love others, for we are all companions on the same journey to you.

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