Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc.
9TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
Psalter: Week 1 / (Green/White)
St. Norbert, bishop
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 24: 4-5ab 8-9 10, 14: Teach me your ways, O Lord.
1st Reading: 2 Timothy 2: 8-15
Remember Christ Jesus, risen from the dead, Jesus, son of David, as preached in my gospel. For this gospel I labor, and even wear chains like an evildoer, but the word of God is not chained.
And, so, I bear everything, for the sake of the chosen people, that they, too, may obtain the salvation given to us, in Christ Jesus, and share eternal glory.
This statement is true: If we have died with him, we shall also live with him; If we endure with him, we shall reign with him; If we deny him, he will also deny us; If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful for he cannot deny himself.
Remind your people of these things, and urge them, in the presence of God, not to fight over words, which does no good, but only ruins those who listen. Be for God, an active and proven minister, a blameless worker, correctly handling the word of truth.
Gospel: Mark 12: 28-34
A teacher of the law had been listening to this discussion and admired how Jesus answered them. So he came up and asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” Jesus answered, “The first is: Hear, Israel!
The Lord, our God, is One Lord; and you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. And after this comes a second commandment:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these two.” The teacher of the law said to him, “Well spoken, Master; you are right when you say that he is one, and there is no other besides him.
To love him with all our heart, with all our understanding and with all our strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves is more important than any burnt offering or sacrifice.” Jesus approved this answer and said,
“You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions.
REFLECTION:
“Love of God and neighbor.”
Today’s Gospel tells of the greatest commandment: the love of God and love of neighbor.
In the narrative, Jesus answered the teacher for the law by citing the love of God and of neighbor as respectively found in Deuteronomy (cf. Dt. 6:4) and Leviticus (Lev. 19:18).
The Synoptic Gospels all narrate this particular narrative (cf. Mt. 22:34-40; Lk. 10:25-28). Jesus, addressing the teacher of the law, says, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”
These words are exclusively Markan. The teacher of the law further explained to Jesus that to do the greatest commandment would be greater than making any offering.
Hence, our nearness to the kingdom of God is measured by our practice of the greatest commandment and not by merely practicing external religious rituals.
Many believers already know what truly constitute the greatest commandment.
However, the challenge is to make this commandment operational in our everyday life by doing acts of loving kindness.
In our faith journey, there are times when we fail to live up to the challenge of this greatest commandment. Worse, at times, we make use of our ceremonial religiosity in order to cover up our failure of practicing Jesus’ greatest commandment.
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