November 4, 2018

31^st Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)   

The Gospel in One Word—Love!

Msgr. Thomas Gervasio

During our Lord’s time, one Rabbi would often ask another a question, but request that the answer be given, “Standing on one foot.” It was a Jewish way of saying, “Be brief in your answer.” This may have been the way the scholar of law raised his question to Jesus. “Standing on one foot” which is the first of all the commandments? Perhaps you are hoping that I could give this homily, “standing on one foot!”
 
And Jesus does. “Standing on one foot” if you will, he recites the Shema from the book of Deuteronomy: 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, with all your mind, and with all your strength. (6:4-6) And Jesus adds, The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
 
Our Lord unites these two commandments since they are radically interconnected. We cannot have one without the other. We cannot say we love God and neglect our neighbor. Nor can we truly love our neighbor without a love of God.
 
Loving God we can understand well enough. We do this in various ways: observing the commandments, living a sacramental life, reflecting on the Scripture, studying the faith, fasting and daily prayer.
 
It’s loving our neighbor that most of us struggle with. We love our neighbor by practicing the spiritual and corporal works of mercy, by being charitable and just in our conversations and relationships. This is not hard to do when we like the person, when they are good to us. It’s hard when that neighbor is not so loveable.
 
C.S. Lewis powerfully emphasized the union of the two commandments when he wrote: “Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.” You might say, “Well, I’m not so sure C.S. Lewis, you never met my neighbor.”
 
A Jewish proverb advises, “Love your neighbor even when he plays the trombone” which is to say “love your neighbor” even when he is annoying. It’s even harder when that neighbor has hurt us deeply.
 
The challenge is to see that even the most annoying or hurtful person is loved by God and has a dignity, being created in the image and likeness of God. This takes practice.
 
With God’s grace we can pray for them and not wish them harm.

It involves extending ourselves in service to them if we can be of help. It includes a willingness to forgive, taking a step toward reconciliation. The Lord exemplified this at the Last Supper when he humbly took the form of a slave and washed the feet of the apostles even when he knew that his disciples would betray, deny, and abandon him.
 
I found that this prayer helps with that challenge:

Lord, draw us ever deeper into your heart. Help us discover that my companions on the journey are women and men loved by you as fully and as intimately as each of us is. In your compassionate heart, there is a place for all of them. No one is excluded. Give us a share in your compassion, O Lord so that your unlimited love may become visible in the way we love our brothers and sisters.