THIRTY-FIRST SUNDAY "B"

THIRTY-FIRST SUNDAY OF YEAR “B”

Mk. 12, 28b – 34: Love of God and Neighbour

Introduction: Moses called on his people to fear the Lord, their God. But Jesus’ emphasis is on love. The idea of servile fear has been changed to having a loving care to please God in all things and not to grieve the Holy Spirit. So if we are sorry for our sins it is because we have perceived God’s love for us. With this attitude let us make our confession to God and to one another.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Homily:  In our Scriptures, big words like “fear” and “love” often come together. No sooner are we told to fear the Lord than we hear a command to love him. Then along comes St. John and says, “Perfect love casts out fear.” So they are paired together and then one excludes the other. Let’s take an example. A parent loves her child and this love is expressed in doing all that is good for the child’s development. That’s something positive and constructive. But then the parent is also very careful that no harm comes to the child. Harm is something to be avoided. That is the fear part. Here fear is really the obverse or aspect of love. So the basic reality is love.  And this is the approach that Jesus would like us to have when addressing the commandments.

Of the 10 commandments, you will notice that the first three deal with our relationship to God, and the other seven with our relationship to our neighbour. Looks like God foresaw it would be easier dealing with him than with the neighbour. So he was satisfied with giving three for himself. The problem is the neighbour. Charles Peguy once said, “I love humanity; it’s my neighbour I hate.” On the silver jubilee of his ordination, a priest had printed on the back of his souvenir: “To live in love with saints above is all bliss and glory. To live below with saints we know is quite another story.” Another priest I knew could only love  fellow priests one at a time. I once heard him say, “I love my brethren, but not in bulk.” Our neighbour’s faults come to mind all too easily, which blocks our loving them. So it’s good to recall the little verse: “There’s so much good in the worst of us; and so much bad in the best of us, that it ill behoves any of us to rail at the faults of the rest of us.”

The point is or, should I say, the trouble is that we cannot love God without loving our neighbour. God has gone and identified himself with criminals, sinners, and the diseased as the only way he can be visible. From now on love of God and neighbour condition one another. We cannot see God, so we love our neighbour, said the woman theologian, Carryl Houselander. And what a neighbour!  And we are told to love our neighbour as we love ourselves. I guess it’s a very practical starting point. So let’s see what the point is. The point is that we watch out for our own interests, looking out for whatever seems to be good for us, and avoiding, resisting and disapproving whatever impedes or threatens that quest. We go on loving ourselves in this pragmatic fashion whether we are pleased with ourselves or disgusted with ourselves. Self-love is remarkably tolerant, maintaining its devotedness to the self’s real or supposed welfare, no matter how boring or bad the self manages to become.  And this is precisely what we are asked to do with our neighbour: watch out for their interests with unrelenting practicality, whoever he or she may be, regardless how much or how little our neighbour pleases us. The parable of the Good Samaritan reminds us of how indifferent to personal likes and dislikes this love is required to be.

But first of all we must love ourselves. We must neither hate ourselves nor be self-indulgent. Hating ourselves would result in becoming doormats for others. Reminds me of the story of the Rabbit that after several births supposedly became the Buddha. This Rabbit was a very obliging animal, always at the service of the other creatures of the forest at all hours of the day and night. One day it was confronted by a tiger that was ravenously hungry. There was no food around. So the Rabbit thought he would offer the tiger some roast meat. So he shook himself thoroughly and jumped into the fire, and roasted himself. Oh, why did he shake himself? To shake out the fleas on its fur lest they be burned in the fire!  We are not expected to be obliging rabbits. We must love ourselves prudently, and if we do, we shall make fewer demands upon others, and make it easier for others to love us. Legitimate self-affirmation, ego-strength and genuine love of self go hand in hand with love of neighbour. God’s love for us substantiates our legitimate self-esteem. The more our love of self is rooted in God’s love for us, the healthier and stronger it will be, and the more it will be linked to the love of neighbour. God’s love and concern for us is thankfully acknowledged by our continuous need of his love gift. This is what we do at every Eucharistic celebration.

 

PRAYER by Oliver Warner (1903-1976). Oliver Warner was a naval historian, a publisher’s reader, and a prolific author.

A Prayer for Racial Harmony

Father, you have made us all in your likeness and you love all whom you have made; suffer not our family to separate itself from you by building barriers of race or colour. As your Son our Saviour was born of a Hebrew mother, but rejoiced in the faith of a Syrian woman and of a Roman soldier, welcomed the Greeks who sought him, and allowed a man from Africa to carry his cross; so teach us to regard the members of all races as fellow heirs of the kingdom of Jesus Christ our Lord.