Homily of 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time
Deuteronomy 6:2-6, Hebrews 7:23-28, Mark 12:28-34
The church, the body of Christ, is not a body of doctrines, but the community of believers bonded by love. While rules and regulations are made to maintain orderliness in the church, we must not forget that Emmanuel is God among us; the Lord who is very close to us and know our deepest heart desires. His love surpasses all. We tap into it when we make ourselves agents of his love. However, laws are made to maintain a structure, but the rule of love is a recipe for liberation of the people. The hierarchical model of the church must not be afraid to open door to the “People of God” model. We are called to project the image of a church which is not known for what she stands against but chiefly by what she stands to offer to the world.
One of the scribes once came to Jesus to ask him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?’ Jesus replied, ‘This is the first: Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the one Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You must love your neighbour yourself.
The law of God is the law of love. Pantheons of negative laws “Thou shall not” cannot be compared with the impact of the positive laws of “Blessed art thou.” The beatitudes are our compass for meaningful living. Oftentimes, we carry excess luggage of unmet desires which are not related to the divine requirement for our true liberation. We’ve got to go for the most essential things in life. With love we can override any other forms of needless preoccupations in our lives and establish a lawful society fill with God’s mercy and love.
Moses said to the people of Israel, “Listen, Israel: The Lord our God is the one Lord. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength. Let these words I urge on you today be written on your heart.”
The Lord who sees our heart knows the intensity of our love will surely reward us according to how much we obey his law of love. Amen.
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