Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Dc. George Gussy
There is a humorous story about a priest who Visited the PRE classroom of children preparing for their First Holy Communion.
He liked to ask the children questions and, on this visit, he asked the children, “Can anyone tell me what the two greatest commandments are?”
A little boy immediately raised his hand and said, “Father, I know! Love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself.”
The priest smiled and said, “Excellent! Now, can you tell me who your neighbor is?”
The little boy thought for a moment and replied, “Well, Father, I suppose it’s the person who lives next door. But if you knew my neighbor, you wouldn’t ask me to love him!”
We can laugh at that little boy’s answer, but perhaps he has expressed something that many of us have felt at one time or another.
It is easy to talk about love. It is easy to sing about love. It is even easy to preach about love. But actually loving people, especially those who test our patience, disagree with us, or make our lives difficult, is another matter altogether.
And that is precisely where today’s Gospel challenges us.
In today’s Gospel, a scholar of the law approaches Jesus and asks Him a question: “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”
It sounds like a simple question to our ears today, but in those times, it was actually a complicated question, you could even say, a loaded question. Just like the question last week about paying taxes, they were looking to set a trap. You see, The Jewish people had over 600 commandments and religious regulations. Religious teachers frequently spent long hours, even days, debating which commandments were the most important.
The scholar wanted Jesus to choose one.
But Jesus, as he often does, turns the tables. He gives not one commandment, but two.
He says:
“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
And then He adds:
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Jesus concludes by saying, “The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
In other words, everything God asks of us comes down to one essential truth: Love God and let that love be seen in the way you treat other people.
Notice that Jesus does not separate these two commandments. He joins them together because they belong together.
We cannot truly love God while refusing to love the people God has placed in our lives.
And we cannot fully understand Christian love unless we recognize that its source is God Himself.
That is the heart of today’s message.
First, Jesus tells us to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind.
That is a powerful statement.
Jesus does not say, “Love God when you have some spare time.”
Or when life is going well.”
Or when it is convenient.”
He says to love God with everything we have.
But what does that mean in everyday life?
Loving God with our whole heart means allowing God to become the center of our lives.
It means remembering Him not just on Sunday morning, but also on Monday afternoon when things go wrong.
It means turning to Him with our worries, our struggles, our concerns, and our burdens.
It means trusting Him even when we do not understand what He is doing.
Sometimes we treat God like an emergency telephone number. Mother Angelica use to call it a Spiritual ATM machine… We call Him when something goes wrong, but when everything is going well, we don’t have time to call.
Yet God desires something much deeper than an occasional emergency call.
He desires a relationship.
Think about the people you love most deeply. You want to spend time with them. You want to talk with them. You want to share your joys and sorrows with them.
Our relationship with God should be no different.
Prayer is not simply asking God for things. Prayer is spending time with Someone who loves us.
And the more we experience God’s love, the more capable we become of sharing that love with others.
The second commandment is where things get a little dicey.
Jesus says, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Now, most of us have no difficulty loving people who are kind to us.
We love the people who appreciate us, encourage us, agree with us, and make us feel good.
But what about the person who constantly complains? Or who has hurt us? Or is never satisfied?
What about the person whose political opinions, personality, or way of life are completely different from ours?
Jesus does not say, “Love your neighbor if your neighbor deserves it.”
He simply says, “Love your neighbor.”
That is because Christian love is not based on whether someone is pleasant, agreeable, or deserving.
Christian love is based on recognizing the dignity of every human being as a child of God.
And here is something important to remember: Loving someone does not necessarily mean that we must like everything about that person or approve everything that they do.
It does not mean allowing someone to mistreat us.
Sometimes love requires patience, correction, and forgiveness. And sometimes it requires healthy boundaries.
But love always means refusing to treat another human being as worthless.
We may disagree with someone, but we must never forget that God loves that person too.
That can be difficult, especially when someone has deeply hurt us.
Yet this is the kind of love Jesus asks us to practice.
Our first reading from the Book of Exodus makes this very clear.
God tells His people not to mistreat foreigners, widows, or orphans. He warns them against taking advantage of the poor.
Why?
Because God hears the cries of those who suffer.
In today’s second reading, St. Paul praises the Christians in Thessalonica because their faith has become an example to others.
Their faith was not simply something they talked about.
It was something they lived.
Their commitment to Christ had changed the way they conducted their lives, and people noticed.
That raises an important question for each of us.
If someone observed the way we live during the week, would they recognize that we are followers of Jesus?
That is a question worth taking seriously.
Because the most convincing witness to our Catholic faith is not always what we say.
Very often, it is how we live.
There is one final point that we must never forget.
Jesus gives us these commandments, but He does not leave us to fulfill them by our own strength.
He knows our weaknesses.
He knows how easily we become impatient, selfish, judgmental, or resentful.
He knows that there are times when loving another person seems almost impossible.
That is why we need His grace.
Every time we come to Mass, we encounter the greatest example of love the world has ever known.
We look at the crucifix and remember that Jesus did not merely speak about love.
He gave His life for us.
He loved us when we were sinners.
He forgave those who crucified Him.
And in the Eucharist, He continues to nourish us with His own life and love.
We come to this altar not because we have already mastered the art of loving, but because we still need to learn.
We come because our hearts need to be strengthened, softened, and renewed.
And then we are sent back into the world to share the love we have received.
Dear friends, perhaps the greatest challenge of today’s Gospel is also its greatest beauty.
Jesus has taken the complexity of religious life and brought it down to two commandments that every one of us can understand.
Love God.
Love your neighbor.
The words are simple, but living them is the work of a lifetime.
So, this week, rather than trying to change the whole world, perhaps we can begin with one person.
Think of someone who needs a little more patience from you, or some encouragement, or maybe forgiveness.
And then do something loving for that person.
Remember the little boy in our opening story who found his neighbor rather difficult to love.
Perhaps that is exactly where Jesus wants us to begin-not with the people who are easiest to love, but with those who require a little more grace.
Because, in the end, when we stand before God, the most important question will not be how much money we accumulated, how successful we became, or how many Facebook or Instagram followers we have.
What will matter is whether we allowed God’s love to shape our lives and whether we shared that love with others.
May we never forget that the greatest commandment is not simply a statement to memorize.
It is something to live.
And may the love we receive from Christ at this altar become the love we bring into our homes, our families, our parish, and our world.