Deacon Tom Anthony

Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 152

Reading 1 Dt 6:2-6

Moses spoke to the people, saying:
"Fear the LORD, your God,
and keep, throughout the days of your lives,
all his statutes and commandments which I enjoin on you,
and thus have long life.
Hear then, Israel, and be careful to observe them,
that you may grow and prosper the more,
in keeping with the promise of the LORD, the God of your fathers,
to give you a land flowing with milk and honey.

"Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone!
Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God,
with all your heart,
and with all your soul,
and with all your strength.
Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today."

Responsorial Psalm Ps 18:2-3, 3-4, 47, 51

R. (2) I love you, Lord, my strength.
I love you, O LORD, my strength,
O LORD, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer.
R. I love you, Lord, my strength.
My God, my rock of refuge,
my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold!
Praised be the LORD, I exclaim,
and I am safe from my enemies.
R. I love you, Lord, my strength.
The LORD lives! And blessed be my rock!
Extolled be God my savior.
You who gave great victories to your king
and showed kindness to your anointed.
R. I love you, Lord, my strength.

Reading 2 Heb 7:23-28

Brothers and sisters:
The levitical priests were many
because they were prevented by death from remaining in office,
but Jesus, because he remains forever,
has a priesthood that does not pass away.
Therefore, he is always able to save those who approach God through him,
since he lives forever to make intercession for them.

It was fitting that we should have such a high priest:
holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners,
higher than the heavens.
He has no need, as did the high priests,
to offer sacrifice day after day,
first for his own sins and then for those of the people;
he did that once for all when he offered himself.
For the law appoints men subject to weakness to be high priests,
but the word of the oath, which was taken after the law,
appoints a son,
who has been made perfect forever.

Alleluia Jn 14:23

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Whoever loves me will keep my word, says the Lord;
and my father will love him and we will come to him.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Mk 12:28b-34

One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him,
"Which is the first of all the commandments?"
Jesus replied, "The first is this:
Hear, O Israel!
The Lord our God is Lord alone!
You shall 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 shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these."
The scribe said to him, "Well said, teacher.
You are right in saying,
'He is One and there is no other than he.'
And 'to love him with all your heart,
with all your understanding,
with all your strength,
and to love your neighbor as yourself'
is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."
And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding,
he said to him,
"You are not far from the kingdom of God."
And no one dared to ask him any more questions.

MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS,

 To Fear the Lord is to love the Lord. This fear is not the negative fear of punishment from an angry God but a fear like the one a child has for its father. This fear is grounded in a willingness to please and a worry that one might do wrong, thus losing favor with the one who loves him or her. This is what we are encouraged to have and what Moses advised all of us to do. From this fear will come a focus and drive to do what is right. There will be an intention to do what is good for the benefit of us, others, and for God.

When we do good things, we feel good. There is a feeling we get that cannot be replicated by doing bad. This originates from our conscience which gives us the ability to distinguish between what is right and what is wrong. We do not need to be taught this but this ability has been placed there by God and reveals the presence of God in our daily lives. Every decision that we make has the ability to be guided by God through the use of our conscience and by the elimination of our own pride. Pride is dangerous and tends to blunt the effect of the conscience. It is then that we try to act like gods and stop fearing God. God tells us through Moses that if we fear Him and listen to what He has to say, we will have a long, prosperous life. This is not a reward but a state of being that comes from doing the right things. It is a promise that, when we are listening to God, only good things will happen. If we truly are Christians and believe in God, why would we want to do differently then what has been advised?

In the Gospel Reading today, Jesus was asked what the Greatest Commandment was. He responded by saying,

“Hear, O Israel!
The Lord our God is Lord alone!
You shall 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 shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these."

Jesus further explains that the foundation of the entire law is based on these. So, if what God says and whatever He tells us to do is always out of love then we must do the same. The entire foundation of our faith and our entire existence comes from love. Love comes from God. When we are following what God says it is a conscious and subconscious reaction to His love for us. This must be fully realized so as to benefit fully from a relationship with Him. Acting only out of obedience alone can only get us so far in a relationship with Him. There will be slow progress and many roadblocks if we do not approach God with love, for loving is a reaction to the first love which is God Himself.

The more that we love the closer we will get to God. Anger drives us away. When we love others, we are spreading the Love of God to others. As God loves everyone, we are challenged to do the same. The word “challenged” is used because, in our humanness, loving others can be a struggle. We kind of get in our own way. Our pride convinces us that we are so important that we can actually dictate the terms of loving other people even though we were instructed by Jesus to love everyone. When we start to define the words of Jesus differently than what He intended them to mean is when we start to sin. We then start to ignore what our conscience is telling us in favor of what we want at that very moment.

We all need to take time and listen to God. We need to withdraw for the chaos around us and give God some of our time. When time is given love will follow. From love will then come understanding. A wanting of more love will follow then a want to listen so as to receive more. A deep relationship will develop as we start to understand God. It is a love affair that will continue for eternity and it starts with the first step: Love.

Deacon Tom