30th Sunday of Orinary times - Love God and Love Neighbor (Mt 22:34-40)

Love God and Love Neighbor

Introduction

- We have in today’s gospel two most important commandments. Which of these is easy to follow? I thought in my childhood days that it is “Love God”, since it is a personal matter without any external signs. There is no external proof whether a person loves God or not. But later I understood that it is the most difficult commandment after reading 1Jn 4:20, (“if anyone says ‘I love God’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen cannot love God, whom he has not seen”), and 1Jn 2:4 (“the man who says ‘I know him’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him”).

Content

- Three dimensions of Love

o Love God

§ "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." Quoted from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18, this is the first and most important Commandment.

§ Giving first preference to God in our life always. “with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind”.

§ When we obey this commandment by giving first preference to God, everything else would fall in its exact place in our lives.

o Love Neighbor

§ In the first reading (Ex 22:20) “you shall not oppress an alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt”. Who is this “alien”? They are the nameless and faceless people in our society. It can be my aged mother…. Father…. Daughter or son…. Or anybody who feels alienation in our houses.

§ When we love God as our father we have to accept all others as our brothers and sisters.

§ (1Jn 4:20) “if anyone says ‘I love God’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen cannot love God, whom he has not seen”, and (1Jn 2:4) “the man who says ‘I know him’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him”.

o Love Self

§ We begin the lessons of love by loving ourselves. For eg; the baby love itself very much. The baby cries and gets the things that are necessary for him/her. Whenever there is a pain in the body the baby cries – love of the physical body. When the baby feels that nobody is paying attention to him/her the baby cries – meeting the psychological needs.

§ Later when grown up, we attribute all the above said traits to our fellow brethren, that they are the people with material and psychological needs, and self respect.

Conclusion

- True love of God and true love of self would guide us to the “love of our neighbor”.

- Let us measure our love of God by looking at our approach towards others.

27th Sunday of Ordinary Time – The Parable of the Tenants (Mt 21:33-43)

Our Attitude towards ‘What we have’

Introduction

- Story – what do you call a person who steals 100 pesos? – Thief. What do you call a person who steals million pesos? (Expected answer is ‘robber’) the politician.

- News paper is filled with the news of car napping, robbery, snatching, corruption, etc. what is their basic belief?

Content

- “whatever is of others is of mine”

o That car is mine, that chain is mine……

o That basic belief of thieves and robbers

o In the parable of good Samaritan we see a group of them (Lk 10)

- “whatever is of mine is mine”

o Many of us are in this category.

o We work hard and earn money, so it is my own, I can use it as I like.

o My family and property is mine

o What is the opinion of Jesus regarding this? It is expressed in Lk 12: 16-21). Jesus call such people as “fool” in the parable of “rich fool”

- “whatever is of mine is of God’s”

o The right attitude of a disciple.

o Our life, our body, our family, our property, our talents, etc. are not mine but is a gift of God.

o There can be two approaches in this thought pattern as it is stated in the parable of talents in Mt 25: 14-30. First one is “I have to develop it and give back to God”. Jesus calls these mentality servants as “good and faithful servants”. The second is “If it is of God’s why should I work on it”. Jesus called this servant as “lazy servant”.

- Today’s parable tells about a group of people who have the first mentality and never thought that everything is entrusted to them for making it grow and pay it back.

Conclusion

- Which group we belong to?

- Do we want to become ‘thieves’ or ‘fools’ or ‘lazy servants’ or ‘good and faithful servants’?

- If we are ‘good and faithful servants, we would be keen on two things – thanks giving and accountability.

- Let us give thanks to God who is the provider of all things.

- Let us prepare to meet Jesus one day in face to face to give our accounts on those things that are entrusted to our care.