Friday of 20th Week in Ordinary Time
THE GREAT COMMANDMENT
At a time when many people are confused and uncertain regarding the future of the Church, and even of the world, the prophecy of Ezekiel is heartening. God can revive his people, breathe his Spirit into dry bones to make them come alive. Is it not the life of Christ and his Holy Spirit of love that can make the Church and the world face the future with fresh hope?
At the Last Supper, Jesus said: “At this people will know that you are my disciples, that you love one another” (Jn 13:35.) He is speaking not just of any love, but the love by which he loved his disciples, that is, a love that goes to the end, that sets no conditions, that sacrifices everything if necessary for the sake of others. This is the love “with one’s whole heart and mind and soul” and as strong as, or stronger than, self-love, of which today’s Gospel speaks. This is a tremendous task that will never end. Is it this kind of love that moves us?
First Reading: Ezekiel 37:1-14
God grabbed me. God’s Spirit took me up and set me down in the middle of an open plain strewn with bones. He led me around and among them—a lot of bones! There were bones all over the plain—dry bones, bleached by the sun.3 He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”
I said, “Master God, only you know that.”
He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones: ‘Dry bones, listen to the Message of God!’”
God, the Master, told the dry bones, “Watch this: I’m bringing the breath of life to you and you’ll come to life. I’ll attach sinews to you, put meat on your bones, cover you with skin, and breathe life into you. You’ll come alive and you’ll realize that I am God!”
I prophesied just as I’d been commanded. As I prophesied, there was a sound and, oh, rustling! The bones moved and came together, bone to bone. I kept watching. Sinews formed, then muscles on the bones, then skin stretched over them. But they had no breath in them.
He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath. Prophesy, son of man. Tell the breath, ‘God, the Master, says, Come from the four winds. Come, breath. Breathe on these slain bodies. Breathe life!’”
So I prophesied, just as he commanded me. The breath entered them and they came alive! They stood up on their feet, a huge army.
Then God said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Listen to what they’re saying: ‘Our bones are dried up, our hope is gone, there’s nothing left of us.’
“Therefore, prophesy. Tell them, ‘God, the Master, says: I’ll dig up your graves and bring you out alive—O my people! Then I’ll take you straight to the land of Israel. When I dig up graves and bring you out as my people, you’ll realize that I am God. I’ll breathe my life into you and you’ll live. Then I’ll lead you straight back to your land and you’ll realize that I am God. I’ve said it and I’ll do it. God’s Decree.’”
Gospel: Matthew 22: 33-40
Jesus answered, “You’re off base on two counts: You don’t know your Bibles, and you don’t know how God works. At the resurrection we’re beyond marriage. As with the angels, all our ecstasies and intimacies then will be with God. And regarding your speculation on whether the dead are raised or not, don’t you read your Bibles? The grammar is clear: God says, ‘I am—not was—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.’ The living God defines himself not as the God of dead men, but of the living.” Hearing this exchange the crowd was much impressed.
When the Pharisees heard how he had bested the Sadducees, they gathered their forces for an assault. One of their religion scholars spoke for them, posing a question they hoped would show him up: “Teacher, which command in God’s Law is the most important?” Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.”
Prayer
Lord God, loving Father,
you have bound yourself to us
with strings of love
and let this love appear among us
in human form
in Jesus Christ, your Son.
Let our love,
however limited and hesitant,
reflect a bit the greatness
of the love by which you yourself love us
in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Reflection:
19 August 2022
Matthew 22: 34-40
God’s dream for humanity: Love
The question on the greatest commandment – was also a tricky one. For the Jews, the law of the Sabbath and its related prescriptions were fundamental. Perhaps this was the intention of Matthew to set the priorities right in his community, which was mainly composed of Jewish Christians. The Judaisers argued for following the numerous Jewish regulations, and Matthew addresses the issue by reminding them of the commandment of love taught by Jesus.
Love is the foundation of our faith life: our love for God and our neighbour. You cannot love God without loving your neighbour, and you cannot love your neighbour without loving God.
Our love for our brothers and sisters is the best witness to our love for God. Love shall be the core or the centre of everything we plan, say and do. Our faith life and service to our brothers and sisters are inseparable. Our life in prayer and reception of the sacraments cannot be separated from listening to the other, closeness to their lives, especially to their wounds. Remember this: love is the measure of faith.
Love of God and love of neighbour are neither two precepts nor formulas. Pope Francis explains this as a glimpse of two faces – the face of the Father and the face of the brother and sister; in fact, only one real face: the face of God. God’s face is reflected in the face of each brother and sister, especially of the most fragile, the defenceless and the needy. Because we are created in God’s own image, we must ask ourselves: when we meet one of these brothers, are we able to recognise the face of God in him?
Indeed, we were created to love and to be loved. We were created by God, who is love, to be participants in his life, to love him and to be loved by him; and with him, to love others. This is God’s dream for humanity. Moreover, to accomplish it, we need his grace; we need to receive the capacity to love, which comes from God himself. Jesus offers himself to us in the Eucharist for this very reason. In the Eucharist, we receive Jesus in the utmost expression of his love. As we share the body of Christ, we participate in this covenant of love; if we fail to love our brothers and sisters, the Eucharist would have no meaning.
Today, we have no problem accepting the principle of love as a priority. But sometimes, we fail to realise that love of neighbour involves concern for justice, truth, freedom, peace, and concern for the poor.