“Communicating Love”
30th Sunday in Ordinary Time – A
“Olga was starved for affection and Ole never gave any sings of affection. At her wit’s end, Olga asked, why don’t you ever tell me you love me? Ole, very solemn but sincere said: “Olga, when we were married I told you that I loved you, and if I ever change my mind, I’ll let you know.”
The challenge we receive from Jesus in this Gospel story is to love! Daily we need to express our love for one another just as God does for us daily in His son, Jesus Christ. Love is new each day! We have known for all our Christian lives Jesus’ response to the scribe’s question “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” But we must listen to it in a new way – with attention!
ON LOVING GOD
When we say we love God, we seek to justify our behavior or our conception of our duties to God: “Am I not right with God, since I attend Mass every Sunday?” But Jesus’ answer reveals a completely different perspective. “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
To love-with all one’s heart, with all one’s soul, and with all one’s mind-has nothing to do with discharging a series of predetermined obligations. To love another means constant attention to the other, it is inventive and does not let us ever consider ourselves free of its demands. That is why love of God cannot limit us to attending Mass on Sunday or rattling off a few prayers every day as an “obligation” – it must be done out of love!
Giving the love of God in our lives constant attention means always seeking how God is active in our lives, how we can make the communication better between God and ourselves in our lives – not by fulfilling an obligation, but by becoming more active Christians! Loving God with all our heart, all our soul and all our mind, means using all of our faculties to praise God and love God by loving our neighbor also, no matter how much we disagree with them or dislike them, no matter the color of their skin or what language they speak. Love of God which is not expressed in love of neighbor is in fact idolatry, the worship of a false God!
God is not like a faraway person who keeps rigorous accounts of our actions and omissions. God is in communion with each one of us; through his Son, and through the Word and through the Sacrament, and through one another. But we must ask ourselves, how can I love God, with all my heart, all my soul, and all my mind, when I cannot stand the neighbor next to me? Or my spouse? Or my brother? Or my Father? That is where our love must be creative – that is where our love must be unconditional. We must find ways to express our love and overcome the obstacles in our way.
LOVING OUR NEIGHBORS
When we speak about love of neighbor, we must first understand that we are “intrinsically” connected to our neighbor because we are each created in the image and likeness of God our creator! To deny our neighbor the right to be loved, to be cared for, respected, and provided for is to deny the God who created us as well! God is the only guarantor of the dignity and intrinsic worth of each person, made in His image and likeness.
In our first reading, it is God who affirms the inalienable rights and value of each person, especially the weakest and most vulnerable. Therefore, doing what is contrary to our neighbor’s good, in any domain whatever, never corresponds to God’s will, to the love we owe Him. When we ridicule someone for their viewpoint, or their lifestyle, or their color, when we falsely accuse someone or slander their character for our own personal gain, how are we loving God with all our heart, all our soul and all our mind? Therefore, we must have the wisdom and the humility to have recourse to others’ advice, not to have them make decisions for us but with their help, to act with prayerful discernment.
LOVING OURSLEVES
Finally, we can get so caught up in our own human condition that we do not know how to love ourselves. This is where it all begins! If we have difficulty in loving ourselves, because of a divorce, or an addiction, a sexual orientation or a falling out with someone, how can we learn to let the love of God envelope our lives? How can we love another individual when obstacles stand in the way of loving ourselves? We can love God only because we know he has loved us first. If we do not think we are loved and loveable, our love of God quickly becomes empty and dry, and our love of neighbor can end in bitterness and cynicism and hate.
The challenge for us today brothers and sisters is to learn to accept and bask in God’s unconditional love for all of us! The challenge for us today is to be gentle with ourselves, forgiving, and compassionate, both to ourselves and those around us. For so is our god, and so He wants us to be, to others and to ourselves.
Jesus speaks in today’s Gospel the simple truth about the human condition. As we approach the table of the Lord, let us with prayerful hearts, open minds and Spirit-filled souls bask in the love of God and ask the Lord of Life to enable us to love ourselves and others as He loves us – for this is the bedrock of our own self-worth!
May God bless you, and all who live in simplicity of heart!