20200821 A COMMANDMENT THAT CANNOT BE ENFORCED
21 August, 2020, Friday, 20th Week, Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour: White.
These are the readings for the feria
First reading | Ezekiel 37:1-14 © |
A vision of Israel's death and resurrection
The hand of the Lord was laid on me, and he carried me away by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley, a valley full of bones. He made me walk up and down among them. There were vast quantities of these bones on the ground the whole length of the valley; and they were quite dried up. He said to me, ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ I said, ‘You know, Lord.’ He said, ‘Prophesy over these bones. Say, “Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. The Lord says this to these bones: I am now going to make the breath enter you, and you will live. I shall put sinews on you, I shall make flesh grow on you, I shall cover you with skin and give you breath, and you will live; and you will learn that I am the Lord.”’ I prophesied as I had been ordered. While I was prophesying, there was a noise, a sound of clattering; and the bones joined together. I looked, and saw that they were covered with sinews; flesh was growing on them and skin was covering them, but there was no breath in them. He said to me, ‘Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man. Say to the breath, “The Lord says this: Come from the four winds, breath; breathe on these dead; let them live!”’ I prophesied as he had ordered me, and the breath entered them; they came to life again and stood up on their feet, a great, an immense army.
Then he said, ‘Son of man, these bones are the whole House of Israel. They keep saying, “Our bones are dried up, our hope has gone; we are as good as dead.” So prophesy. Say to them, “The Lord says this: I am now going to open your graves; I mean to raise you from your graves, my people, and lead you back to the soil of Israel. And you will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, my people. And I shall put my spirit in you, and you will live, and I shall resettle you on your own soil; and you will know that I, the Lord, have said and done this – it is the Lord who speaks.”’
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 106(107):2-9 © |
O give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his love has no end.
or
Alleluia!
Let them say this, the Lord’s redeemed,
whom he redeemed from the hand of the foe
and gathered from far-off lands,
from east and west, north and south.
O give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his love has no end.
or
Alleluia!
Some wandered in the desert, in the wilderness,
finding no way to a city they could dwell in.
Hungry they were and thirsty;
their soul was fainting within them.
O give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his love has no end.
or
Alleluia!
Then they cried to the Lord in their need
and he rescued them from their distress
and he led them along the right way,
to reach a city they could dwell in.
O give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his love has no end.
or
Alleluia!
Let them thank the Lord for his love,
for the wonders he does for men:
for he satisfies the thirsty soul;
he fills the hungry with good things.
O give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his love has no end.
or
Alleluia!
Gospel Acclamation | Ps118:18 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Open my eyes, O Lord, that I may consider
the wonders of your law.
Alleluia!
Or: | Ps24:4,5 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Teach me your paths, my God,
make me walk in your truth.
Alleluia!
Gospel |
Matthew 22:34-40 © |
The commandments of love
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 COMMANDMENT THAT CANNOT BE ENFORCED
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ Ezekiel 37:1-4; Psalm 107:2-9; Mt 22:34-40 ]
If we are feeling empty and meaningless in life, especially when we are doing well, our career and business is successful and we have a happy family, what is missing? Of course, there are many of us who feel this way too when things go wrong; we are failures in our career and in our business, we go through one broken relationship after another, we are lonely, we lose passion for life and we wonder what we are doing on this earth. Life has no meaning and purpose, and we wish to exit this life.
Indeed, we are the dry bones of Israel. Everything seems lifeless because we are stripped of everything. The Israelites in exile felt that way. They lost their homeland, their Temple and their kingdom. Exiled far away from their homeland and in captivity in Babylon, what hope was there for them? “By the rivers of Babylon – there we sat down and there we wept when we remembered Zion. Our tormentors asked for mirth, saying, ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!’ How could we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” (Ps 137:3f) Indeed, we can feel with them in their sadness and loss.
What was the cause of their exile? The prophets repeatedly assigned the fall of Israel and Judah to their abandonment of the Covenant that God made with them. The exile was the punishment brought upon themselves by their sins, especially of infidelity to God. “We have offended you deeply, failing to keep the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances that you commanded your servant Moses.” (Neh 1:6-7; cf Jer 25:8-11) Moses had warned them that if they did not keep the commandments, “the Lord will scatter you among the peoples; only a few of you will be left among the nations where the Lord will lead you. There you will serve other gods made by human hands, objects of wood and stone that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. From there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find him if you search after him with all your heart and soul.” (Dt 4:27-29) Indeed, Moses urged them to “keep all his decrees and his commandments that I am commanding you, so that your days may be long. Observe them diligently, so that it may go well with you, and so that you may multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey.” (Dt 6:2f)
What are the commandments that Israel was required to keep? Simply this, as summarized in the Shema; “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” (Dt 6:5) Loving God with all their being summarizes all the other commandments that Moses gave to the people. Indeed, the Decalogue given by God to Moses and the people are reducible to loving God and loving neighour. The first three commandments summon us to give ourselves to God, to make Him first, and the center of our life. The other seven commandments oblige us to love our neighbours. This is what the Lord affirms in today’s gospel.
Without the love of God, we cannot love our neighbour rightly. Without love of neighbour, our love for God at most is merely a cerebral love. Our Lord in the gospel brings these two commandments together. Why can’t we love our neighbour if we do not love God? After all, there are many good people in the world serving the poor without faith in God, but they do so purely out of humanitarian reasons. They might even be more caring and loving towards the poor, the sick and marginalized than people of faith.
The truth is that when we do not love God or have not seen Him, we will not be able to see God in our brothers and sisters. We will merely see them as another human being. This is why those who serve the poor without faith are simply offering “humanitarian” aid. In other words, they see themselves suffering in their fellowmen. They are reaching out to them because they identify their sufferings with their brothers and sisters who are suffering. However, that kind of reaching out at most can offer some relief to those suffering. Yet, this love is not that pure or selfless because we are not loving them for who they are but what we are. This explains why we feel more for our loved ones who are suffering than those whom we do not know. We are identified more with our loved ones. There is a spontaneous response to the needs of our loved ones, our children, spouse and parents because we are one with them. We cannot be happy without them being happy. So when we reach out to our loved ones, it is not just for their sake but as much for our sake.
Without founding our love for our neighbours on the love of God, at most we can say is that we have fulfilled the commandment to love our neighbour as ourselves. This can lead to frustration when we cannot relieve their pain and suffering. We feel worried, anxious and troubled. We can even become angry with God and with the world for the situation. There are many who work for the poor and the oppressed but in the process they become disillusioned, angry with the world for its indifference, and they become bitter, resentful and even go to the extreme of taking up arms to champion the cause of the poor and the suffering. Eventually, we lose faith in humanity and faith in God. We fall into despair. I have seen many who are involved in social work but when they meet with challenges, they lose faith completely, become self-righteous and unhappy.
Worse still are those who seek to love their neighbour without seeing God in them because they see them as of lesser beings. It is out of condescension that they are reaching out to them. They are the ones suffering and so we being rich, we share some of our abundance with them. We feel great about ourselves. We may even boast to people how generous we are. In such a situation, we are not identified even with them. We give out of our abundance because we have so much money. We may even exploit our giving for publicity, so that others will see the good that we do and support us in our projects and businesses.
However, those who love God first will love their neighbour not because they are suffering but simply because we see God in them. They are truly our brothers and sisters in Christ. In loving God, we want to love all those whom God loves. The motivation to love goes beyond mere humanitarian, of being identified with them in their suffering, but because of the Christ in them. Seeing the image of God and Christ in them, we will love them as we love the Lord. We see others as not just having bodily and material needs but emotional and spiritual hunger as well. Our outreach goes beyond mere humanitarian aid. We see the need to attend to the person as a whole; as one who needs our love, tender care and compassion. Unless we see them as an extension of the Eucharist, the Body of Christ, we will not have the same reverence for them.
This capacity to love the way God loves us cannot be a command. Love is a feeling that is either there or not, or can be produced by the will. True, we can love without feeling by an act of the will. But to love passionately, feeling is required; otherwise we love like dry bones. This is why we need to be loved by God first before we can love like Him. The commandment to love God and our neighbour cannot really be a command. We cannot force a person to love. We cannot give what we do not have. However, the good news is that “God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 Jn 4:9) So concludes, St John, “Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.” (1 Jn 4:11f) Clearly, the love of God and love of neighbor cannot be separated if we are to love the way God loves us, unconditionally, totally and selflessly. God loves us for our sake. His love is faithful, constant and free. This love of God is now poured into our hearts in the Holy Spirit. (Rom 5:5) Let us allow God to love us so that we can love Him and our neighbours.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment