Love fulfils all God’s Commandments

 

Welcome to my blog. Peace be with you.

Sunday is the when we especially thank God for the creation, he has given us. It is the day when the light first shone on the chaos of darkness. It is the day when the true light of the World, Christ Jesus our Lord, rose from the dead to give us all the true light of life.

Through the Word of God, prescribed by the Catholic Church, we can hear the Risen Lord speaking to us. Let us not harden our hearts.

Sunday 6 September 2020

23^rd  Sunday in Ordinary Time

Love fulfils all God’s Commandments

 

Reading

Romans 13:8-10 ·

Your only debt should be the debt of mutual love

Avoid getting into debt, except the debt of mutual love. If you love your fellow men you have carried out your obligations. All the commandments: You shall not commit adultery, you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not covet, and so on, are summed up in this single command: You must love your neighbour as yourself. Love is the one thing that cannot hurt your neighbour; that is why it is the answer to every one of the commandments. THE WORD OF THE LORD

 

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 95:1-2,6-9

O that today you would listen to his voice! ‘Harden not your hearts.’

Come, ring out our joy to the Lord;

hail the rock who saves us.

Let us come before him, giving thanks,

with songs let us hail the Lord.

O that today you would listen to his voice! ‘Harden not your hearts.’

Come in; let us bow and bend low;

let us kneel before the God who made us:

for he is our God and we

the people who belong to his pasture,

the flock that is led by his hand.

O that today you would listen to his voice! ‘Harden not your hearts.’

O that today you would listen to his voice!

‘Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,

as on that day at Massah in the desert

when your fathers put me to the test;

when they tried me, though they saw my work.’

O that today you would listen to his voice! ‘Harden not your hearts.’

 

Gospel

Matthew 18:15-20

If your brother listens to you, you have won back your brother

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘If your brother does something wrong, go and have it out with him alone, between your two selves. If he listens to you, you have won back your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you: the evidence of two or three witnesses is required to sustain any charge. But if he refuses to listen to these, report it to the community; and if he refuses to listen to the community, treat him like a pagan or a tax collector.

‘I tell you solemnly, whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.

‘I tell you solemnly once again, if two of you on earth agree to ask anything at all, it will be granted to you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three meet in my name, I shall be there with them.’ THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD

 

Homily  

In the world that God made out of nothing, there was field and in that field there was a clod of earth. The eye of God fell on that lump of earth and he said to himself: I will make a king out of this.

God took the lump of earth and fashioned into the shape of a human being. But it was still a lifeless clay doll. Then he breathed into it. It became a living being and stood up and began to speak.

God spoke to this living being and said. ‘If you like I will make you far more than this. If you would like me to, then I will make you just like I am. You will be just like God. You will be able to think like God, act like God and love like God. Your future will be something you cannot even imagine.’

That living being, fashioned by God, is you and I. This is the truth about who we are. We have come from the hands of God.

What return can I make to God for creating me like this and for promising such a future? I cannot give him anything because the whole world is his.

All I can give him is my gratitude and the promise that I will do what he asks of me. This is not only what I can do, but it is what I owe to him for the wonder of my being (Ps.139). This is the debt I owe to God.

God only asks one thing of us. He says: show your love for me by loving my creation. The greatest thing in creation are the men and women I have created. I want you to love them as I have loved you.’

And so, St. Paul tells we should have no debt except to love one another. Loving one another is the debt we repay to God for everything he has done for us.  It is the only thing he asks of us. It is the only thing we  can give.

If we love we will do no harm to anyone. We will not hate or murder. We will not commit adultery, or steal or lie. “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.  It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Cor.13:4-7). In our life with others this is what God asks of us. The more we do this, the happier he is with us.

Unfortunately, we often forget this as soon as we leave the church. However, Jesus has promised to be with us whenever we come together in his name. If in our families and communities we come together each day in the name of Jesus, then he will be present with us. He is truly present. Family prayer is the key to a life of family peace. If we then focus on his presence among us, as he has promised in today’s Gospel, he will not only remind us but will help us to love and serve one another. The more we love, the more we will serve and the more we will become like God. This is the goal of our existence.