Francoise Shamavu
Which is the greatest commandment of the Law ? This question deserved to be asked because, in the book of the Law, there were 613. They were progressively added to regulate different contexts and needs. We are in front of people with double experience. Once slaves in Egypt and later freed by God. The Lord had revealed himself as the Lord who listens to the pleas of the humiliated ones and who restores their freedom and resets their dignity. In the first reading, it’s about remembering the horrible past and avoiding to threaten the little ones : widow, orphan, stranger… because, if they lift their pleas up to the Lord, He will not hesitate to listen to them as He is compassionate and love.
In the second reading, Paul is talking about the Love of God, asking Thessalonians and each of us today to look at him as a model. He is wishing them and us to worthily respond to that love and to become for those who surround us an example of faith and love. Let us take advantage of our context, where Christians are criticized, threatened or persecuted, to show our spirit of belonging to Jesus. We are witnesses of faith and God’s love.
In the Gospel, Jesus answers the request of the Pharisees: « Which is the greatest commandment of the Law? » If they ask this question, probably it’s not for them to deepen the teachings of the Law, they want to put Jesus into trap. Let us admire the wisdom of Jesus. He answers them according to the scriptures: « You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind » Dt 6 :5 He could have even stopped there, but he added the second: « You must love your neighbour as yourself ». these two laws are mixed for us to know that, we will never love God if we hate our brothers, we will never love our brothers if we hate God.
We need to approach Jesus, because, what he is asking of us today, He lived it until the end of his life on earth. On holy Thursday tonight, He said : as I loved you, love one another. He has now taken the image of our neighbour. We don’t have choice. Love is our priority. Our neighbour can be the nearer one or the one towards who we move, those we meet and those who meet us. Let us be patient with them, helpful, less jealous, not boasting, far from proudness and always ready at any cost to renounce our selfish interests for the sake of love. As we are beneficiaries of God’s love, we are invited today to spread out the same love to those who are suffering, those who most need of our proximity. May our Mother Mary intercede for us in our Christian struggle.
Which is the greatest commandment of the Law ? This question deserved to be asked because, in the book of the Law, there were 613. They were progressively added to regulate different contexts and needs. We are in front of people with double experience. Once slaves in Egypt and later freed by God. The Lord had revealed himself as the Lord who listens to the pleas of the humiliated ones and who restores their freedom and resets their dignity. In the first reading, it’s about remembering the horrible past and avoiding to threaten the little ones : widow, orphan, stranger… because, if they lift their pleas up to the Lord, He will not hesitate to listen to them as He is compassionate and love.
In the second reading, Paul is talking about the Love of God, asking Thessalonians and each of us today to look at him as a model. He is wishing them and us to worthily respond to that love and to become for those who surround us an example of faith and love. Let us take advantage of our context, where Christians are criticized, threatened or persecuted, to show our spirit of belonging to Jesus. We are witnesses of faith and God’s love.
In the Gospel, Jesus answers the request of the Pharisees: « Which is the greatest commandment of the Law? » If they ask this question, probably it’s not for them to deepen the teachings of the Law, they want to put Jesus into trap. Let us admire the wisdom of Jesus. He answers them according to the scriptures: « You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind » Dt 6 :5 He could have even stopped there, but he added the second: « You must love your neighbour as yourself ». these two laws are mixed for us to know that, we will never love God if we hate our brothers, we will never love our brothers if we hate God.
We need to approach Jesus, because, what he is asking of us today, He lived it until the end of his life on earth. On holy Thursday tonight, He said : as I loved you, love one another. He has now taken the image of our neighbour. We don’t have choice. Love is our priority. Our neighbour can be the nearer one or the one towards who we move, those we meet and those who meet us. Let us be patient with them, helpful, less jealous, not boasting, far from proudness and always ready at any cost to renounce our selfish interests for the sake of love. As we are beneficiaries of God’s love, we are invited today to spread out the same love to those who are suffering, those who most need of our proximity. May our Mother Mary intercede for us in our Christian struggle.