The Greatest Commandment

These are excerpts from the homily I gave on the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 26, 2014.

When the Pharisees ask Jesus what is the most important commandment,  It is a legitimate question.  It is a question the Pharisees have been debating amongst themselves for generations.  The Pharisees identified 613 commandments in the Torah, the first five books of the Bible.  Two hundred forty-eight were positive, things to do, “thou shall” and three hundred sixty-five were negative, things not to do, “thou shall not”.  Asking Jesus "which commandment in the law is the greatest," the Pharisees are stating that the law comes first and must be followed.

The response Jesus gives to the question is:
“You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with your whole soul and with all your mind.  This is the greatest and first commandment.  The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus is teaching us that the law comes from our relationships with God, neighbor and ourself.  It defines the reason for following his commands.  Love is part of the greatest commandment because the law flows from God's love for us.  Love comes first then the law follows.

Jesus tells us who our neighbor is by the use of parables.  Think of the Good Samaritan, his neighbor was the total stranger he helped.  We cannot love God if we do not love our neighbor who is also the stranger we do not know.  Love of neighbor is an essential part of our desire to love God.  If we fail in this we fail in our love for God.  If we do not recognize our neighbor as our brother, we cannot recognize God as our Father and we cannot love what we do not recognize.  God makes it quite clear to love either God or neighbor without love for the other is impossible

We read in scripture (1 Jn.3: 20):
"Anyone who says 'I love God' and does not love his neighbor is a liar" for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.”

Let each one of us ask ourself today how seriously we take the Greatest Commandment of all and the second commandment like it.  How do we show love to our neighbor?  Do we notice those people who pass through our daily life as strangers?  If you are not still not sure who your neighbor is recall the words from Pope Benedict.  This is one of my favorite quotes and comes from the encyclical God is Love:
“Anyone who needs me, and whom I can help, is my neighbor.”

Open the Door when He knocks.

My wife and I dated for over three year before our marriage. The last few months before our marriage became fairly routine. So routine that we rarely made plans for seeing each during that time. We just assumed what we would do. Three or four evenings a week I would go to her house and we would watch television or play dominoes with her parents. On some of those evenings I would pick her up and we would go back to my parent’s house to watch television or sit on our porch swing. 

Saturday evening was always different. We would go out on a “date”. I would take my fiancee to a movie and dinner or to some special event taking place. There were some Saturdays that I would be late. I would either be busy helping at the house or some friend would unexpectedly drop by. Whatever the reason, I was past my normal arrival time. My soon to be wife was always patiently waiting for me. I must admit it made me feel good. I knew this was someone that truly loved me and wanted me happy even if it caused her disappointment.

God loves us. He desires that we wait for him with love and patience. I was the cause of disappointment for my wife but God does not cause us disappointment. He will come again at the appointed time. Though we are to prepare and wait for his second coming God is also with us now. He comes to us through the Sacraments of the Church and through the people we meet every day.

We must open our hearts to everyone. We must receive every person as though we are receiving Jesus. The Gospel from today’s daily Mass (Luke 12:35-38) tells us “be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks.” We are to be ready.  We are not be late. Do not wait for Jesus to come into your life. He is already here, knocking on your door.  We meet him in the sacraments of the Church and in those around us. Go out and meet him with lighted lamps. See God in all of his creation.

Death with Dignity

A few days ago I read an article on the Internet about a young lady dying from a brain tumor. She lives in the state of Oregon that has a dying with dignity law.  This law allows a physician to prescribe drugs that will end someone’s life.  The young lady is planning to commit suicide under Oregon’s death with dignity law.  The lady desires this type of death so much that she and her husband moved from California to Oregon to be able to do this.


In the CNN article I read the lady writes about dying with dignity, not putting her family through the ordeal of seeing her physically deteriorate, and that she has a safety net if the end of life experience becomes unbearable. The lady wishes to die on her own terms.

Death is sad and tragic. It is an ordeal each of us will experience.  I can only relate to it by the experiences I had from watching my parents and sister die.  There can be dignity in death even if it lengthy and painful.  Dignity springs forth from hope.  The one subject I did not read about in the article was anything about a God or the hopes of an after-life except the words “as I pass into whatever's next.”

If you have no hope there is no reason to wait for death.  There is no reason to pray for a miracle. There is no hope that God will work through your sufferings to strengthen those who love you. Ending your life unnaturally takes away the graces your family may receive through the sacrifices they will make for you.

Dignity is the product of hope that comes from the belief that there is a God.  Through our belief in God life becomes important and how we live our life even more important.  When we live our life with the knowledge and belief in an eternal salvation then death becomes a doorway.  We do not need a safety net.  God will be there to walk us through the door.