Reading 1
Thus says the LORD:
"You shall not molest or oppress an alien,
for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.
You shall not wrong any widow or orphan.
If ever you wrong them and they cry out to me,
I will surely hear their cry.
My wrath will flare up, and I will kill you with the sword;
then your own wives will be widows, and your children orphans.
"If you lend money to one of your poor neighbors among my people,
you shall not act like an extortioner toward him
by demanding interest from him.
If you take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge,
you shall return it to him before sunset;
for this cloak of his is the only covering he has for his body.
What else has he to sleep in?
If he cries out to me, I will hear him; for I am compassionate."
Gospel
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees,
they gathered together, and one of them,
a scholar of the law tested him by asking,
"Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?"
He said to him,
"You shall 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 is like it:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."
Reflection
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus declares the meaning and priority of our lives: love. Namely, to love God “with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” and to “love your neighbor as yourself.” All that we do — every choice, desire, and goal — should be measured against these two great commandments.
To grow in holiness is to grow in properly ordered love. Loving God with our entire heart, soul, and mind means we must learn to direct the love we have for anything else to Him. When we love a place, an activity, or a possession, we must learn to love it as a gift that reflects the goodness of its Creator and as a means of giving Him glory. Anything that takes God’s place in our hearts becomes an idol, and it endangers both our happiness and our eternal life.
Even our love for other people should be properly ordered — God is Love Itself, and no human love can replace Him. Yet Jesus tells us that the second commandment “is like” the first, for love of neighbor is inseparable from love of God. When we love others selflessly, not for what they do for us but because they bear God’s image, we love God in them. God loves our neighbor, and we honor Him by doing the same. In today’s first reading, the Lord promises to hear the cry of the widow, the orphan, and the stranger. If their cry moves the heart of God, it must move ours.
Jesus explains that “The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.” Indeed, every moral directive in Scripture and our Church is really a lesson in how to love. Every “thou shalt not” is never a mere restriction, but rather instruction in what harms our love for God and neighbor. God, Love Itself, is also Truth Itself, and so love and truth are inseparable.
When we struggle against the commands not to lie, gossip, lust, or steal, let us remember that these sins are all deprivations of genuine, sacrificial love. Join me in praying for the love of Christ to purify our hearts, that we might obey these great commandments today and always.
Please be assured of my prayers for you before Our Lord, present in the Most Blessed Sacrament.
+ Bishop Schlert
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