Gospel: (Mt 22:34-40)
At that time, when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they came to him. One of them, who was a doctor of the law, asked him to test him, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?” Jesus answered him: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.. This is the greatest and first of the commandments. And the second is like unto it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.. On these two commandments the whole law and the prophets are founded.”.
Fruit: To renew before Christ the Eucharist my option to follow his commandments.
Guidelines for reflection:
The Pharisees questioned Jesus seeking to make him look bad before others, looking for something in which they could accuse him in order to condemn him. It is very different to question with openness, seeking to learn, to enrich one's personal knowledge, than to question with closed-mindedness, without honesty and wanting to make the other person look bad. The question about the most important commandment was not intended to find out which is the most important, but to trap Jesus in an answer that could serve to shut him up and get rid of him. However, Jesus uses the occasion not only to make clear which is the greatest commandment, but also to demonstrate how to respond to such adverse cases.
1. They ask you questions to test you
Jesus, full of wisdom, arouses envy. With authority he casts out demons, with mercy he heals diseases, with dignity he shows the errors of authority. For humble people, the acts and words of Jesus are a learning opportunity; for the proud and hard-hearted, an opportunity to justify themselves and do everything possible to prove that Our Lord is a charlatan. The curious thing is that when He is put to the test, Jesus“ answers not only answer the inquisitorial questions but also leave a life lesson. ”Teacher," the Pharisees call him, but one would have to hear that title with a tone of mockery, not of recognition by the Pharisees. Today Jesus continues to be harshly questioned throughout society by all those who seek to destroy marriage, the value of the family, the dignity of persons from conception to natural death. They want to corner Jesus with ideologies that seek to justify false fashion trends. They want to silence his mouth so that he does not bother and let live a life of debauchery that can only lead to the self-destruction of the individual. What to do?
2. First and foremost, the most important commandment
To have God in one's heart, in one's life, not to forget him or relegate him to the background. From the moment in which God becomes something superficial, his demands do not challenge us, they bother us. And in the long run it is to go down a path that deteriorates us internally and externally. Our relationships become more selfish. Our spiritual life is fading. To keep in mind every day what is the most important commandment: “To love God”. Write it with fire in our hearts so that we never forget it. This will help us to have clear our principles and we will avoid “testing” God by comparing Him with the guidelines that seek to impose in society and that are contrary to the values of Christianity.
3. Love your neighbor
The first thing we must do, to show love to our neighbor is to ask in prayer for each and every one. Ask God for others, especially for those who do not accept his message, for those who cause public harm, for those who steal, kill, destroy values. Ask God to touch their hearts so that they may find the light they need to rectify their path. To pray for those who share ideologies that threaten the integrity of people, so that God may transform their ideals and make them more in line with the integral humanism of people, and not so much with the excessive relativism that denigrates others. To pray for those who despise life, misuse their bodies with drugs and unbridled sex, kill the innocent and pretend to be defenders of human rights, so that God may make them see the greatness of life from conception to death, may make them see how worthy a person is when he or she is free from all destructive vices. Ask God for those who insist on testing him in order to destroy his Church, so that they may better focus their energies on the good of others. How many things we can ask of God by showing our love for our neighbor!
Purpose: Make a list of the names of all the people for whom I will pray during my Eucharistic Hour.
Listen also to our monthly online retreat.
You may be interested in: The value of truth.
