20141026 A LOVE ROOTED IN GOD’S LOVE AS THE ANSWER TO THE FULLNESS
OF LIFE
First
reading Exodus 22:20-26 ©
The
Lord said to Moses, ‘Tell the sons of Israel this:
‘“You must not molest the stranger or oppress
him, for you lived as strangers in the land of Egypt. You must not be harsh
with the widow, or with the orphan; if you are harsh with them, they will
surely cry out to me, and be sure I shall hear their cry; my anger will flare
and I shall kill you with the sword, your own wives will be widows, your own
children orphans.
‘“If you lend money to any of my people, to
any poor man among you, you must not play the usurer with him: you must not
demand interest from him.
‘“If you take another’s cloak as a pledge,
you must give it back to him before sunset. It is all the covering he has; it
is the cloak he wraps his body in; what else would he sleep in? If he cries to
me, I will listen, for I am full of pity.”’
Psalm
Psalm
17:2-4,47,51 ©
I
love you, Lord, my strength.
I
love you, Lord, my strength,
my rock, my fortress, my saviour.
My
God is the rock where I take refuge;
my shield, my mighty help, my stronghold.
The
Lord is worthy of all praise,
when I call I am saved from my foes.
I
love you, Lord, my strength.
Long
life to the Lord, my rock!
Praised be the God who saves me,
He
has given great victories to his king
and shown his love for his anointed.
I
love you, Lord, my strength.
Second
reading
1 Thessalonians
1:5-10 ©
You
observed the sort of life we lived when we were with you, which was for your
instruction, and you were led to become imitators of us, and of the Lord; and
it was with the joy of the Holy Spirit that you took to the gospel, in spite of
the great opposition all round you. This has made you the great example to all
believers in Macedonia and Achaia since it was from you that the word of the
Lord started to spread – and not only throughout Macedonia and Achaia, for the
news of your faith in God has spread everywhere. We do not need to tell other
people about it: other people tell us how we started the work among you, how
you broke with idolatry when you were converted to God and became servants of
the real, living God; and how you are now waiting for Jesus, his Son, whom he
raised from the dead, to come from heaven to save us from the retribution which
is coming.
Gospel
Acclamation cf.Ac16:14
Alleluia,
alleluia!
Open
our heart, O Lord,
to
accept the words of your Son.
Alleluia!
Or Jn14:23
Alleluia,
alleluia!
If
anyone loves me he will keep my word,
and
my Father will love him,
and
we shall come to him.
Alleluia!
Gospel
Matthew
22:34-40 ©
When
the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees they got together
and, to disconcert him, one of them put a question, ‘Master, which is the
greatest commandment of the Law?’ Jesus said, ‘You must love the Lord your God
with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the
greatest and the first commandment. The second resembles it: You must love your
neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole Law, and the
Prophets also.’
A
LOVE ROOTED IN GOD’S LOVE AS THE ANSWER TO THE FULLNESS OF
LIFE
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: EX 22:20-26; 1 TH 1:5-10; MT 22:34-40
Many
are searching for the meaning of life. Affluent and successful
people find life empty. This is because they worship false gods in their
lives. This is the new form of idolatry mentioned in the second
reading. Idolatry is to worship illusions, non-existent reality.
When we worship money, power, success and fame, these are illusions. These are
dead things. They cannot give life.
So what
can give life? The gospel tells us that the answer lies in love, the
love of God, neighbour and ourselves. “On these two commandments hang
the whole Law and the Prophets also.” The key to life is therefore
apparently simple. But these words of Jesus are often misinterpreted and
the full import is not understood. In fact the teaching of Christ raises a few
questions.
Firstly,
why did Jesus consider love as a command? How can love be a
command? The truth is that when love is a command, it becomes a law, an
obligation. A command implies an outside law-giver and therefore our
compliance to an external authority. If that is the case, then such love
becomes a duty. It is no longer really love but simply something done out
of fear. Such kind of love is certainly not desirable. Therefore if
we love others, if we visit the aged and help the poor, but do so merely out of
duty to our loved ones; or because of the vows we have taken; or because God
says so, then such acts of love can become a burden. We become resentful
and even bitter. Certainly, there can be no joy in that kind of love,
both for the recipients and the giver. This is so unlike the joy of St
Paul when he proclaimed the Good News.
The Pharisees and the
Scribes precisely fell into that kind of legalistic love. That is why they were concerned only
about the laws. They felt that if they obeyed the laws then they could be
considered to have loved God and therefore appear righteous before
others. As a result, everything they did was neither for the love of God
nor for others but actually for themselves, so that they can feel that they
have earned the love of God and feel superior to others.
Secondly, why did Jesus
connect the love of God, neighbour and self together? In fact this is
the novelty of Jesus’ teaching. He put together the two commandments of
love into one and juxtaposed them side by side. We are called to love God
with our whole heart, soul and mind; and our neighbour as ourselves. What
is the implication of this relationship? In other words, for Jesus,
it is clear that the love of God, neighbour and self, although distinct, is
inseparable. Why is that so?
How can we love God with
our whole heart, mind and soul? At any rate, where is God? If we think that God is simply
someone out there, a supreme being that is somewhere above us, perhaps, we can
reduce the love of God simply to an act of worship. It means that to love
God is simply to spend the whole day in prayer and worship. But the truth
is that God is everywhere and He is especially present in us and in human
beings because we are made in the image of God. So to love God is
actually to love others.
Hence, in the first
reading, God told Moses to instruct his people to love one another, especially
the widow, the orphan and the poor. For if the people of Israel are the
people of God and if God dwells amongst them, necessarily, they can love God
only when they love each other. The love of neighbour therefore is the
only way to love God because in the first place, God loves us. To love
God is to share in the mind and heart of God’s love, which therefore
implies loving our neighbour. And not only to love our neighbour but we
are called to also love our neighbour with the love we have for God, that is,
our whole heart, mind and soul, since Jesus says that the second commandment
resembles the first.
But how can we truly
love our neighbour unconditionally and totally? The truth is that if
we do not love ourselves, then we cannot love others. How can we give
what we have not got? The truth is that most of us do not even love
ourselves. And when we try to love others, we only make use of others for
ourselves. We try to impose our love on others so that we feel good about
ourselves. We do not really love, but we love so that others can love us
or say good things about us. Our love is conditional. If our love
is not appreciated or recognized, then we withdraw that love.
So how then can we love
God, neighbour and self? The truth is that this is only possible
if we ourselves have first been loved. This indeed is the Good News
that Jesus came to proclaim and what St Paul is speaking about in the second
reading. If Jesus asks us to love God, others and self with our whole
being, it presupposes that we have experienced the Abba Father intimacy and
relationship that he had. Until and unless we have experienced that love,
then we cannot love the way God loves us. Precisely, for us, it is our
experience of God’s unconditional love through Jesus in the Holy Spirit that
empowers us to love likewise. Without this love, we cannot love.
Once we have experienced this love, then we too would want to love because
filled with His love, we want to reach out, not as a duty but as a result of an
overflowing love. It was the Thessalonians’ personal conviction of Christ
and His love that gave them the capacity to spread the Good News in spite of
the oppositions they faced.
We are called to proclaim
the Good News that God loves us in Christ Jesus, unconditionally. But no
one can believe that this is true unless we demonstrate that love in loving
others. When they see us loving others unconditionally and genuinely,
they will know that we have really been touched by God’s love. If not,
that proclamation of God’s love in Christ is only words. This was what St Paul
wrote to the Thessalonians, “We do not need to tell other people about it:
other people tell us how we started the work among you, how you broke with
idolatry when you were converted to God and became servants of the real, living
God.” Indeed, it was their life of faith and love that inspired many others to
the faith. They were living an authentic Christian life, observing and
imitating the good examples of St Paul and that of the Lord ” and it was with
the joy of the Holy Spirit that you took to the gospel, in spite of the great
opposition all round you. This has made you the great example to all
believers.” But it was equally their way of life that inspired many
people to believe in what they said.
What more effective ways
can one evangelize if not by the Good News of practical love? We are challenged to bring Christ’s
love effectively, not just in words alone but to care for the marginalized, the
poor, the oppressed and those who are without financial, social and emotional
support. We must remember however not to go into extreme, namely, loving
the whole world except your own family members, or to confine that love of
neighbor only to your loved ones and ignoring the stranger. If we, as the
first reading instructs us, care for such people, especially strangers,
they will find the face of God in us as much as we will find Him in them.
Nevertheless, this
experience of God’s love in Christ is primarily rooted in prayer. Only
when we love God by adoring and worshipping Him, can we find access to His love
and in that love, we will be able to love others wholeheartedly the way
that God loves us completely in Christ. The love of God, while not
separated from the love of others, certainly has primacy over the latter.
Hence, we must constantly bear in mind the order of love which Jesus taught us,
“You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and
with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second
resembles it: You must love your neighbour as yourself.” The failure to
observe this order will lead to a less than true love for ourselves or for our
neighbor, because we will make use of them for ourselves under the guise of
loving them.
Like the psalmist, let God
be the strength in love. And so we pray too, “I love you, O Lord, my
strength, O Lord, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer. My God, my rock of
refuge, my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold! The Lord lives and
blessed be my rock! Extolled be God my savior.” This is the living God that St
Paul speaks about in the first reading. Only He alone can give us the
capacity to love with the love He has showered on us as He did on the
Israelites.
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV
WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP
OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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