User’s Guide to Sunday, Nov. 3
Sunday, Nov. 3, is the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time. Mass readings: Deuteronomy 6:2-6; Psalm 18:2-3, 3-4, 47, 51; Hebrews 7:23-28; Mark 12:28b-34
In the Gospel, the Pharisees ask Jesus, “Which is the first of all the commandments?”
In response, Jesus recites the traditional Jewish Shema:
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. Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today (Deuteronomy 6:4-6).
Jesus then adds, also in common Rabbinic tradition, “The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
Do not miss the point: The greatest “law” centers on the word “love.” As Jesus insists and the ancient Jewish Shema articulates, love and law are in fact together; the law is an articulation of love.
Consider that a man who really loves his wife does not need a law to tell him that he must support, protect and encourage her. Nevertheless, though he may not need the existence of the law in writing, he is in fact following the law of love when he observes these and other norms. There is a language of love, a law of love, an outworking of love’s works and fruits. In the end, love does what love is, and love is supportive, enthusiastic and even extravagant in keeping its own norms and laws.
Love does what love is.
Thus, when asked about the Law, the Lord just says that we should love: Yes, love God passionately, with your whole heart, soul and strength. As you do this, you will love what and whom he loves, for this is the natural fruit of love.
The more one loves God, the more one begins to love his laws, his vision and what he values. Yes, all the commandments flow from loving God. Real love has its roots; it has its laws, methods and modes. Love wills the good of the other, and what is truly good for us all is that we love what and who God loves.
Here, then, is the whole law: Love God. Let God’s love permeate you completely, and every other commandment will implicitly flow from this love. Love, if it is true and not merely selfish, wants and desires what is good and helpful for the other.
The saints say, “If God wants it, then I want it. If God doesn’t want it, then I don’t want it.” Is that the way most of us talk? Is that the way most of us act?
The saints knew the law of God and could say it and live it out. How about us?
