Search
-
October 28, 2021Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time ---- October 31, 2021
Deuteronomy 6:2-6; Psalms 18:2-3,3-4,47,51; Hebrews 7:23-28; Mark 12:28-34
The Ten Commandments are perhaps the most widely recognized religious teachings in the modern world. Originally recorded by Moses and shared with the people of Israel, they served as the foundation for Jewish law for centuries. They still are among the earliest lessons taught throughout the Jewish and Christian faiths. Most of us could probably still recite them to this day. The Ten Commandments are clear and concise. Basically, they dictate that by avoiding certain things you would be considered a faithful servant of God. However, as clear and concise as these commands may have been, over time the Jewish leaders and teachers saw the need to add hundreds of other laws to help the people better understand how they should act. The commands were, after all, couched in ‘thou shalt not’ terms. The people of Israel had a human tendency to make things a lot more complicated than God had intended by imposing burdens on themselves by the hundreds, well beyond God’s desires. Even the scholars of the Law may have realized how difficult it is to live a fruitful life by just avoiding doing bad things. Little joy can be found in ‘not doing.’ It is not difficult to see how the Jewish people may have missed that their call was to love God above all else. Joy and peace is found in loving as God loves. That may have been what Jesus was trying to have the people understand when He was asked to summarize the Law. We should take note that Jesus’ commands were ‘do’ commands—love commands rather than ‘thou shalt not’ commands. Jesus summed up the whole of the Law when He commanded us to “love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus recognizes that for us to lead joyful, peaceful and redeeming lives we must be focused on loving, not merely avoiding evil. When we focus on avoiding wrongdoing we are focused on ourselves. When we are called to love, we are called to focus on the good of others and what we might do to help bring a little more joy and peace into their lives. It may even be helpful for us to recognize these two commands as Jesus sharing God’s will for us. He wants us to be someone who loves Him above all else and loves others as we love ourselves. By acting out of love at all times as Jesus did, little room is left for those things prohibited by the Ten Commandments.
For further reflection on the our Call to Christian Charity see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 1822-1829; and on the Two Greatest Commandments, paragraphs 2052-2557.
Reflection questions:
- How might I come to love God above all else? Are there any ‘false gods’ present in my life? Which ‘false gods’ do I have the hardest time avoiding? What steps might I take to love God above all else?
- We are called to imitate the love of Jesus. How might I use Scripture or the Catechism of the Catholic Church to come to better know the love of Jesus? Do I seek guidance in the Church’s teaching or am I more likely to see prohibitions in its rules?
- What can I do to share the love of Jesus by thinking of myself less and thinking of others more? At home? In my community? In the Church?
