Readings: Dt. 6:2-6; Heb. 7:23-28; Mk. 12:28-34
My Love for God is seen in my Love for others!
1. Fr. George Anderson served as a chaplain
at the maximum-security prison at Riker’s Island, New York. He started a prayer
discussion group among some of the prisoners. The group would read a passage
from Scripture, like the parable of the prodigal son. Then, they would ponder
the passage in silence and end by discussing how it applied to their everyday
lives. One evening, a prisoner named Richard, from a section for the mentally
disturbed, was with the group for the first time. Fr. Anderson describes the
episode this way: “It was a windy evening in March. There was little heat in
the room. An inmate sitting opposite Richard, having come with his T-shirt and
trousers, was shivering. Richard had come with his shoulders wrapped in two
blankets. Then, while we were discussing the idea of helping each other,
Richard suddenly got up, walked to the other inmate, and put one of his
blankets around him.”
2.
What
Richard did is called practical spirituality. Richard, ‘the good prisoner,’
preached a sermon by his action, a living testament to the interconnectedness
of our love for God and our love for others. He put the answer Jesus gave to
the question: “Which is the first of all the commandments?” into
action. The scribe wanted to be justified by the keeping of the commandments.
But Jesus wanted him to see the commandments in practical terms. Jesus reduced
the Ten Commandments to just one with two prongs – the love of God and the love
of neighbor. We cannot be so in love with God while out of love with our
neighbor. Hence, St. John opined, “If
someone says he loves God but hates his brother, he is a liar, for he cannot
love God, whom he has not seen if he does not love his brother, whom he has
seen. The command that Christ has given us is this: whoever loves God must love
his brother also.” (1 John
4:20). Vima Dasan, SJ put it better: “Without the love of God, our love of
neighbor would become shallow and formalistic; but without the love of
neighbor, our love of God can become self-centered and individualistic, thus
separating religion from life. Hence, however hard it may be, we must be
constantly moving our religion from our throats to our muscles.” If we profess
to love God but at the same time be always critical and spiteful of others,
there is something wrong with that type of love. God cannot be loved in
isolation.
3.
It
is impossible to love anyone else if I am not in love with myself. If I do not
love my family, I doubt if I will be capable of loving my neighbor. Loving God
is very easy and simple if I don’t have to love anyone else. Like the husband
who told his wife, I love God with all my heart; I have no problem with God.
But I have issues with you asking for money to buy stuff, asking for school
fees for the kids, and talking back at me. You disturb me while watching
football on Sunday, make noise while I listen to the news, and you talk about
others all the time. God doesn’t do any of that. Oh, I love God dearly, but not
human beings. We must remember that self-love is not selfishness, but a
necessary foundation for loving others.
4.
We
have often done harmful things to ourselves. We destroy our bodies by turning
them into canvas for the arts. We eat, drink, and smoke things that ruin our
internal organs. We abuse ourselves with the company we keep. We despise our
tongues by what we say and how we use them to destroy others. We fill our minds
and hearts with all sorts of things that make it impossible to concentrate on
God during prayers or on items that impact our lives positively. We often
transfer these attitudes to the way we treat others. We abuse people behind
their backs and curse them if they make us unhappy. Our children are usually
not spared. There is so much hatred and disregard for our brothers and sisters
in the same family that it makes it hard to see eye to eye with them. Often,
siblings do not talk to each other due to past hurts and transgressions.
Reconciliation is easier in the United Nations conflict resolution meetings
than in our families. How can we love God so entirely in isolation from those
around us? Yes, our family members may be a pain in the rear end, but Christ
instructs us to love them as we love ourselves. Isn’t it true that we love God
in the same measure that we can love one another? That is what Christ tells us
in today’s gospel. We must love God with all our hearts and our neighbors as we
love ourselves.
5.
Spending
time in prayer, going to confession, receiving Jesus Christ faithfully in the
Eucharist, keeping the commandments of God and the Church, contributing to
supporting the Church, and being active in ministries are essential and
wonderfully significant, but they are not enough. We must do these and more.
Our Christianity must be practical, not just a set of rituals, but a way of
life that we live every day. We are to be the homily seen as rooted in the
homily we heard. Let us plan to go to heaven, not as individuals, though we
will go as individuals, but with all those dear to us, by being the gospel they
see since so many of them will not be able to read any other bible given to
them.
6. Today’s readings invite us to ask ourselves some profound and meaningful questions. Have I identified my love for God with the love I have for my family? Have I expressed my love for God in the way I love those who do not belong to my group? Let us pray for an understanding of God’s love and so love our neighbors as we love ourselves.
Rev.
Augustine Etemma Inwang, MSP
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