The readings for the Thirtieth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year A) May be found at:
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102520.cfm
All of our theology and preaching, in one way or another comes back to the same basic message of God’s love for us - in fact, love is why we were created in the first place.
In today’s gospel, Jesus tells us that if we love God and our neighbor, everything else falls into place.
We know that as Catholics we are supposed to love God, but that doesn’t always happen. We get busy. We lose track of what’s really important.
As we race through our busy lives, do other people even know we’re Catholic? I’m not talking about Mass or with church friends where we know how to speak, act, dress and look Catholic. I’m talking about whether we live our lives in a way where it is obvious to people, by our actions that we are followers of Christ.
To live a life like that, God must be at the center of it.
God must be at the center, because we can only truly love and serve others when our relationship with God is right first.
The simple fact is that we can’t be Catholic if we don’t love God and love our neighbor.
It’s easy for us to love those neighbors who think like we do, look like we do and who do the things we agree with, but what about the ones we may not know or who find fault in everything or never have a good word to say about anyone? Is that the one we must love? Is that our neighbor? We may not want to hear this, but the answer is yes.
Having a love for our neighbor is based on our love for God. If we say we love God and don’t love our neighbor, we‘ve got it wrong.
Now, you might say, “How can I love my neighbor when they do the things they do?” Their front yard could be filled with political signs. They may refuse to wear a mask or imagine this, they may fly a New York Yankees flag or something else that we find disagreeable.
The answer is we can only love them as God loves us, wanting better for them and expecting nothing in return.
The great Cristian writer, C.S. Lewis’ words about humility capture what it’s like to love with the love of God when he wrote, “it is not about thinking less of yourself, it is about thinking of yourself less.”
To truly love others, we need to see the image of God in them. We must get it through our head that each person is valuable in God’s sight, no matter how they look, no matter who they are, regardless of whether or not we agree with what they do.
When we treat each other with that same kind of love, when we see the potential rather than what’s superficial, when we give the benefit of the doubt rather than assuming the worst possible motives, we are loving like Jesus does.
Now, this isn’t always easy. Sometimes people are hard to love.
The good news is that we know Jesus perfectly kept the Law on our behalf, and died for us to show God’s love. He knew that the greatest command of all is love. He loved others, and still loves us. Because of that, we can share His love with those around us, no matter what they might say or do to us. And when that seems hard, we can ask God to help us.
Let’s do that now.
Dear God,
Thank you for your commandments,
Help us to remember that to love you and our neighbor is your greatest command,
Help us to share your love with those around us and to love like you do, especially when it is hard to do it,
And thank you for your love, Amen.
