Year: 2024

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Gospel: Mark 12: 28-34

One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him,
“Which is the first of all the commandments?”
Jesus replied, “The first is this:
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.
The second is this:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these.”
The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher.
You are right in saying,
He is One and there is no other than he.
And to love him with all your heart,
with all your understanding, 
with all your strength,
and to love your neighbor as yourself
is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding,
he said to him,
“You are not far from the Kingdom of God.”
And no one dared to ask him any more questions.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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In Jesus’ time, there were two major schools of thought. 

Some Jews wanted to expand the Law as much as possible. They were meticulous and exceptionally detailed; so much so that, in addition to the 10 Commandments, they created 613 extra rules to follow!

Other Jews treated the Law like an accordion. They wanted to collapse it down to its very essence.

This is the approach that Jesus takes.

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Collapsing the Law, he says the entirety of it – and by extension all of Christianity – can be summarized in a single word: love.

But what exactly is love?

Love’s a bit like humility; it’s hard to define. But you know it when you see it. You know it when you feel it. And you know it when you don’t.

Throughout the centuries, poets like Dante have tried to define it with varying degrees of success. For example, he once wrote, “Love is what moves the sun and the other stars.” 

Perhaps a bit too abstract. Shakespeare, on the other hand, stated it practically.

In one of the most famous scenes from Romeo and Juliet, a young Juliet gazes down upon Romeo from her balcony and says to him:

“Romeo, the more I give to you, the more I seem to have.”

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That’s the very essence of love: the more we give, the more we have.

Juliet lived in a world of “we,” not “me.”

Married couples and parents understand this well. Think of how delighted you are when you see your children succeed.  

Or the delight teachers experience when they teach their students how to read. Or the sense of meaning we find when giving the perfect gift, forgiving a neighbor, or volunteering to help the most vulnerable among us.

If Juliet is right, the more we give to anyone, the happier we become. This is why love fulfills the Law; it’s the force that moves the sun and the other stars. 

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So, how can we be like Christ, giving more of ourselves away today?

The more we do, the happier we’ll become.

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Image credits: (1) AZ Quotes (2) CL, Church Leaders (3) Connie Hertz

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Gospel: Luke 11: 14-23

Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute,
and when the demon had gone out,
the mute man spoke and the crowds were amazed.
Some of them said, “By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons,
he drives out demons.”
Others, to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven.
But he knew their thoughts and said to them,
“Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste
and house will fall against house.
And if Satan is divided against himself, 
how will his kingdom stand?
For you say that it is by Beelzebul that I drive out demons.
If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul,
by whom do your own people drive them out?
Therefore they will be your judges.
But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons,
then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.
When a strong man fully armed guards his palace,
his possessions are safe.
But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him,
he takes away the armor on which he relied
and distributes the spoils.
Whoever is not with me is against me,
and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Auto-immune diseases, such as type-1 diabetes or arthritis, confuse the body’s natural defense system so that the body can no longer tell the difference between a healthy or an unhealthy cell.

Mysteriously, normal cells are mistaken for a threat, causing the body to attack itself.

As a result, an otherwise healthy human being becomes like a “house divided,” as Jesus describes in today’s Gospel, causing unnecessary pain – sometimes to an excruciating level.

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When we gaze across the world of politics and religion, we can see a similar phenomenon unfolding, even in our own country.

At times, a baptized person is not seen as a fellow Christian (or even as an American), but as “pro-this” or “anti-that.” As a result, we fight amongst ourselves, destroying the unity of Christ’s body here on earth.

Yet the Lord prayed during his final night, “That they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me” (John 17:21).

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While we may have our differences, there’s one thing that should transcend it all – our love for Jesus, demonstrated by how we treat Him in our neighbor.

In what ways can I strive for greater unity – at home, at work, in the Church, online?

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“Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste,” Jesus warns. 

May we do our part to retain the unity Christ desires, seeking common ground, praying for and listening to each other, always remembering – “that” person is not an enemy, rather a brother or sister in Christ.

Come, Holy Spirit, make us one in Jesus.

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Image credits: (1)WVBS – World Video Bible School (2) News-Medical (3) Zarephath Christian Church, YouTube

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Gospel: Matthew 18:21-35

Peter approached Jesus and asked him,
“Lord, if my brother sins against me,
how often must I forgive him?
As many as seven times?”
Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.
That is why the Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king
who decided to settle accounts with his servants.
When he began the accounting,
a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount.
Since he had no way of paying it back,
his master ordered him to be sold,
along with his wife, his children, and all his property,
in payment of the debt.
At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said,
‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’
Moved with compassion the master of that servant
let him go and forgave him the loan.
When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants
who owed him a much smaller amount.
He seized him and started to choke him, demanding,
‘Pay back what you owe.’
Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him,
‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’
But he refused.
Instead, he had him put in prison
until he paid back the debt.
Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened,
they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master
and reported the whole affair.
His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant!
I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to.
Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant,
as I had pity on you?’
Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers
until he should pay back the whole debt.
So will my heavenly Father do to you,
unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Scholars have tried to calculate just how much debt these two characters owed. In dollars and cents, you might say one owed millions while the other owed a few pennies.

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The parable begins with the multi-million-dollar debt being forgiven by the king. Relieved, the man returns home, only to begin strangling his servant who owes him a few pennies.

How can someone who’s just received forgiveness for such a massive debt be so petty? Certainly, he’s lost his perspective.

Are we ever like him?

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Asking God to forgive us our trespasses is like asking to have a debt we cannot repay be forgiven. Yet the Lord forgives us every single time.

With such an incredible gift freely given, how could we be petty with our neighbor?

A colleague gets underneath our skin; a person cuts us off on the road; we don’t get our way; a family member does something that leaves us nursing a grudge for days, or longer.

The petty things begin to fester…

Yet, “If your heavenly Father forgives you, then you also should forgive one another,” the Lord says.

“How many times?” Peter wonders. “As many as seven times?”

“No, seventy-seven times.”

Meaning, without limit.

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May we set the “pennies” aside and learn to love one another like Christ, who has loved us and given himself for us.

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Image credits: (1) Ministry to Youth (2) The Manila Times (3) Bible.com