Thursday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Paul has been imprisoned for the sake of the Gospel. Being treated like a criminal, he is in chains, but persevering in his faith, spreading Jesus’ message of salvation. As Paul points out in his second letter to Timothy (2 Timothy 2: 8-15), “But the word of God is not chained.” I really like that line. And it is so true. They tried to stop Jesus by killing him, but he rose from the dead. They tried to stop Paul from spreading Jesus’ message, but the word of God could not be chained up or imprisoned with Paul. The word is alive and continues to spread among Jesus’ disciples.
Paul encourages Timothy with the poetic words: “If we have died with him we shall also live with him; if we persevere we shall also reign with him.” So, we are reminded that if we give our entire lives up for God, we will also have life and salvation through Jesus.
Paul seems to hold nothing back when it comes to his commitment to Jesus. And today’s gospel reading (Mark 12: 28-34), reminds us that this is precisely what we are called to. The greatest commandment is to love God with ALL of our heart, ALL of our soul, ALL of our mind, and ALL of our strength. We are called to give ALL of ourselves to God, holding nothing back.
How many times have you heard someone encourage another person with “Give it your all”? The greatest commandment is requiring us to give our all to God. And the second greatest commandment flows from the first. If I am giving all of myself to God, then naturally I will also be loving my neighbor as myself.
It’s a pretty specific and challenging command. It is not simply “love your neighbor” (which can be challenging in itself); the command is to “love your neighbor as yourself.” When I really think about it, my reaction is “Wow!” I’m being called to treat my neighbor with the same love and respect as I have for myself. I’m being called to think of my neighbor’s needs, concerns, and burdens as if they were my own! That requires abundant and generous giving of my time, my gifts, my attention, my resources as much as if I were doing for/ taking care of myself.
When the scribe that was questioning Jesus made it clear that he understood that these commandments are worth more than “all burnt offering and sacrifices,” Jesus tells him that he is not far from the Kingdom of God. And isn’t that what we are striving for? To help bring about the Kingdom of God?
Let us take some time this week to reflect on these commandments and ask Jesus to show us how we can give of ourselves more completely to him/God. Are there parts of ourselves that we are holding back? Where are we putting our energy? Is my heart completely God’s? Is my mind completely God’s? Is my strength completely God’s? Is my soul, my entire being completely God’s? And giving myself completely to God, how can I, thus, love my neighbor as myself?
- Eileen Miller