October 29, 2017: Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law tested him by asking,
“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”
He said to him,
“You shall 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 is like it:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:34-40)

Reflection

Love God, love your neighbor — simple words, hard sometimes to remember.
Jesus tells us to love God first — with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind.
We are called to praise God and to put that praise into action by “loving our neighbor as ourselves.”
Yes, to love ourselves. To take care of ourselves in body, mind and spirit and to extend that same feeling to anyone and everyone we meet each day.
These two commandments become a dialogue with God every day. Our relationship with others depends on this dialogue.
We are to become visible signs of God’s love. Everything God intended in scripture is fulfilled in these two commandments.

Action

Pray daily as Jesus did:

The Lord is my God, the Lord alone.
I will love God with my whole heart, my whole soul and my whole strength.

Make your actions reveal this prayer.