Thursday, June 04, 2020 - Ninth week of Ordinary Time - Gospel of Jesus Christ according to St. Mark 12, 28-34 - Our Saviour, Christ Jesus, destroyed death; he made life shine forth through the Gospel.
It's a scribe who asks Jesus, "what is the first of all the commandments?" This person is supposed to know the Law, but he has some doubt about the faith, so he prefers to ask. It is a great lesson for us to ask when things are not clear, especially about faith. Jesus, seeing that the scribe is sincere, gives him a satisfactory answer. It is also a great lesson for us to give people an honest answer when they need your help. Sometimes we are so condescending... Jesus makes no judgment or disparaging remarks here about the ignorance of this scribe.
So Jesus' answer is: The first commandment is to love the Lord God and to love your neighbor as yourself. The question is: Love which God and in what way? The answer is God, the only Lord and to love him with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength, that is to say with your whole being. Therefore, it is not necessary to command a true Christian: love God, pray, enjoy the sacraments? Secondly, love your neighbours: which neighbours are we talking about and how? Let us look at those around us, they are the neighbours that Jesus wants us to love; because according to the word of God, charity is greater than all the holocausts and sacrifices. This means that the fellowship we receive brings us no grace if we do not love our neighbours. Love for God is measured by the extent of love for our neighbors. To love one's neighbour is already well defined by Saint Paul in 1 Corinthians 13, 4-5: "Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, it is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury"
And the Gospel? When Jesus saw that the scribe wisely answered, that is, accepted this truth, He said that he is not far from the kingdom of heaven. We too, as Christians, accept this truth, and we will not be far from it. But in order to do so, we are encouraged to live fully the love that Christ teaches us.
