Friday of week 20 in Ordinary Time – August 25 / 2017
First reading
Ruth 1:1,3-6,14-16,22
In the days of the Judges famine came to the land and a certain man from Bethlehem of Judah went – he, his wife and his two sons – to live in the country of Moab. Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, and she and her two sons were left. These married Moabite women: one was named Orpah and the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years. Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died and the woman was bereft of her two sons and her husband. So she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard that the Lord had visited his people and given them food. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law and went back to her people. But Ruth clung to her.
This was how Naomi, she who returned from the country of Moab, came back with Ruth the Moabitess her daughter-in-law. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest. The word of the Lord!
Psalm 145(146):5-10Gospel
Matthew 22:34-40
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees they got together and, to disconcert him, one of them put a question, ‘Master, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?’ Jesus said, ‘You must 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 resembles it: You must love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole Law, and the Prophets also.’ The gospel of the Lord!
Reflection
The topic of love cannot be over emphasized and Jesus reiterates it today as the greatest commandment of the Law. Hence, we are commanded to love; it is not a thing of choice. If out of your free-will you have chosen to serve God, then you are bound by his commandments to love. What we notice in the first reading is Ruth’s love for her neighbour, Naomi; this is very uncommon between daughter-in-laws and mother-in-laws. Her love was selfless as she decided to stay back and take care of her mother-in-law even when she was no longer bound by law. In truth, the law of God binds us to love.
Why does God command us to love? God commands us to love because in loving we fully come to the knowledge and service of God. It is the fulcrum of his message to his children. As a parent, you know that unity and harmony is possible in the family when love is practised; that is exactly what God desires for his children – God’s beautiful family. Yes, we must love because love provides us which such beautiful virtues and rewards that prepare us for heaven and eternity. St. Paul in his letter to the Corinthian explains further – check 1 Corinthian 13:4-13 – we learn that active love makes us perfect and the only gift that last. Let us desire to love as God wants us to. Let our love heal wounds, save lives, bring unity, and perfect us for the Kingdom of God.
Prayer
Dear Lord, we have learnt that the greatest thing is Love and that God is love, may I sincerely love, and may my love be selfless and true as God wants me to, in Jesus name I pray, Amen!