20260604 LOVE AS THE BASIS FOR BEARING HARDSHIPS FOR THE GOSPEL
4 June 2026, Thursday, 9th Week in Ordinary Time
First reading |
2 Timothy 2:8-15 |
If we have died with Christ then we shall live with Christ
Remember the Good News that I carry, ‘Jesus Christ risen from the dead, sprung from the race of David’; it is on account of this that I have my own hardships to bear, even to being chained like a criminal – but they cannot chain up God’s news. So I bear it all for the sake of those who are chosen, so that in the end they may have the salvation that is in Christ Jesus and the eternal glory that comes with it.
Here is a saying that you can rely on:
If we have died with him, then we shall live with him.
If we hold firm, then we shall reign with him.
If we disown him, then he will disown us.
We may be unfaithful, but he is always faithful,
for he cannot disown his own self.
Remind them of this; and tell them in the name of God that there is to be no wrangling about words: all that this ever achieves is the destruction of those who are listening. Do all you can to present yourself in front of God as a man who has come through his trials, and a man who has no cause to be ashamed of his life’s work and has kept a straight course with the message of the truth.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 24(25):4-5,8-10,14 |
Lord, make me know your ways.
Lord, make me know your ways.
Lord, teach me your paths.
Make me walk in your truth, and teach me:
for you are God my saviour.
Lord, make me know your ways.
In you I hope all day long
The Lord is good and upright.
He shows the path to those who stray,
He guides the humble in the right path,
He teaches his way to the poor.
Lord, make me know your ways.
His ways are faithfulness and love
for those who keep his covenant and law.
The Lord’s friendship is for those who revere him;
to them he reveals his covenant.
Lord, make me know your ways.
Gospel Acclamation | cf.Jn6:63,68 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are life;
you have the message of eternal life.
Alleluia!
Or: | cf.2Tim1:10 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Our Saviour Jesus Christ abolished death
and he has proclaimed life through the Good News.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Mark 12:28-34 |
'You are not far from the kingdom of God'
One of the scribes came up to Jesus and put a question to him, ‘Which is the first of all the commandments?’ Jesus replied, ‘This is the first: Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the one Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You must love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.’ The scribe said to him, ‘Well spoken, Master; what you have said is true: that he is one and there is no other. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself, this is far more important than any holocaust or sacrifice.’ Jesus, seeing how wisely he had spoken, said, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.’ And after that no one dared to question him any more.
LOVE AS THE BASIS FOR BEARING HARDSHIPS FOR THE GOSPEL
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [2 Tim 2:8-15; Ps 25:4-5,8-10,14; Mk 12:28-34]
St Paul wrote to Timothy not just to encourage him in his difficult task as the overseer of the Church in Ephesus, but also to give him the strength to endure hardships for the sake of the Gospel. How do we find the strength to endure trials and difficulties in our desire to spread the Gospel?
There are two keys to finding faith and strength in times of trial. St Paul gives us the first key, and Jesus provides the second, helping us remain focused on our mission and overcome our trials. For St Paul, strength rests in the Passion and Resurrection of Christ. For Christ, it rests on the love of God and our fellowmen. In the final analysis, both are speaking of the power of love from different perspectives.
Indeed, love is the only basis for overcoming all trials in life. This is why in the Gospel, when a scribe asked Jesus, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” Jesus replied, “This is the first: Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the one Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You must love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.” Jesus’ response was not a new teaching. He was simply quoting the Shema from Deuteronomy 6:4-5, which is the confession of faith for the Israelites.
It is important to note that Jesus did not use the word “love” loosely, as many people do today. Today, the word is used for anything and everything, so much so that love means different things to different people. Often, love is confused with an emotional feeling, a liking, or a preference. Most of the time, when people say they love, it is in reference to themselves rather than the person being loved. In other words, love is often conditional, self-centred, and based on using others for our needs rather than fulfilling the needs of others without conditions and vested interests.
Hence, Jesus uses four terms to speak of this love of God and of our fellowmen. These terms heart, mind, soul and strength – when taken together, signify not distinct faculties or parts of the human being, but different ways of referring to the whole person. Whether it is the heart, the soul, or the mind, together, they refer to the entire person being engaged in the act of loving.
The “heart” describes the distinct inner depths of a person from which all decisions and actions flow. The “soul” is another way to speak of the entire person as a living being – that which must be given up for Christ’s sake if we are to follow Him. As Jesus said, “For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the Gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?” (Mk 8:35f) Jesus further adds “mind” to emphasise that our thoughts and thinking must be animated by the love of God. And finally, the last term, “strength” is mentioned to emphasise that the love of God is not merely something sentimental that arises spontaneously; it is a commitment that calls for every ounce of our energy. True love is a commitment made not just emotionally, but consciously with the entire being – heart, soul, mind and strength.
The second part of Jesus’ answer is His citation of Leviticus 19:18: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” What Jesus did was to combine these two commandments, putting them side by side. The second part of His answer grounds the last seven commandments of the Decalogue, while the first part sums up the first three commandments, which form the foundation for the last seven commandments. The implication is clear: these two commandments – love of God and love of neighbour – are inseparable. Our love for God is concretised in our love for our fellowmen.
But how should we love our neighbours? The answer is clear. We must love them as we love ourselves. In other words, as the Lord tells us in the Sermon on the Mount, “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.” (Mt 7:12) To love others as ourselves means to desire their well-being just as we desire our own. St Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, wrote, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.” (Phil 2:3f)
Although in its original context “neighbour referred to fellow Jews”, Jesus extends that love to every person, including our enemies, since God is the Father of all. By the time of Jesus, God was understood to be not only the one God of the Jews but of the whole universe and the entire human race. “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.” (Mt 5:44f) The Parable of the Good Samaritan truly challenges us to love our enemies, which is perhaps the most difficult thing for us to do. This is seen in the scribe’s inability to name the Samaritan as the one who showed mercy. Instead, he sheepishly replied to Jesus when He asked, “Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” He replied “The one who showed him mercy.” (Lk 10:36f)
In response to Jesus’ teaching on the twofold commandments of love, the scribe said, “Well spoken, Master; what you have said is true: that he is one and there is no other. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself, this is far more important than any holocaust or sacrifice.” However, the evangelist noted that Jesus, seeing how wisely he had spoken, said, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” Being “not far” does not mean that he has entered the Kingdom of God. Just knowing the truth does not mean that we have entered it. So, knowledge of the truth of love must be lived out in concrete love of God in our neighbours. Thus, “no one dared to question him anymore” because they were aware that they could not live up to Jesus’ challenge to love God perfectly in their neighbours – including their enemies.
It is within this context that we appreciate Paul’s exhortation to Timothy. One can bear the hardship of the Gospel by contemplating the Paschal Mystery of our Lord, which is the essence of the Good News. “Remember the Good News that I carry, ‘Jesus Christ risen from the dead, sprung from the race of David.'” Because of the Passion, death and Resurrection of Christ, Paul found courage and confidence to be true to the message he was called to deliver, even if it brought him persecution and imprisonment. The power of love demonstrated by Christ’s Passion and death on the cross, and by the Father raising Him from the dead, shows that love triumphs over hatred, and life over death. It also shows that God is faithful to us. “If we have died with him, then we shall live with him. If we hold firm, then we shall reign with him. If we disown him, then he will disown us. We may be unfaithful, but he is always faithful, for he cannot disown his own self.”
From this faith in God’s love, Paul is willing to bear the hardship “for the sake of those who are chosen, so that in the end they may have the salvation that is in Christ Jesus and the eternal glory that comes with it.” In his Letter to the Romans, Paul shares his conviction: “If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 8:31,32,37-39) Unless we have encountered His unconditional love and mercy for us, we will not be able to give ourselves in service to the people of God. As Paul says, “For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore, all have died. And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them.” (2 Cor 5:14)
Best Practices for Using the Daily Scripture Reflections
- Encounter God through the spirit of prayer and the scripture by reflecting and praying the Word of God daily. The purpose is to bring you to prayer and to a deeper union with the Lord on the level of the heart.
- Daily reflections when archived will lead many to accumulate all the reflections of the week and pray in one sitting. This will compromise your capacity to enter deeply into the Word of God, as the tendency is to read for knowledge rather than a prayerful reading of the Word for the purpose of developing a personal and affective relationship with the Lord.
- It is more important to pray deeply, not read widely. The current reflections of the day would be more than sufficient for anyone who wants to pray deeply and be led into an intimacy with the Lord.
Note: You may share this reflection with someone. However, please note that reflections are not archived online nor will they be available via email request.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
