30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A – October 25th, 2020

This Sunday’s readings go straight to the heart of the Christian life – love. In the Gospel, Jesus gives the famous “two great commandments,” His own synthesis of the entire Law: “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind … you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” However, before delving into this beautiful passage, we began with an interesting insight into the Responsorial Psalm. While our version of Psalm 18 in the liturgy renders the first verse as “I love You, LORD, my strength,” one commentary suggested a different translation. According to Fr. Carroll Stuhlmueller, CP, the Hebrew verb used in this instance for “love” is closer to “have pity on” and has a connotation of tenderness (in fact, the word literally refers to a mother’s womb) and it is a verb that never takes God for its object. Rather, he says that God should in fact be the subject, that He is addressing Israel and saying, “I have pity on you.” Israel – and each of us – can then respond with the litany of praises and trust that follows. It is God Who “first loved us,” after all, and thanks to His tender care we can rest in absolute confidence that whatever happens will be ultimately for our good. His love is our strength! And when we respond with our own acts of love, our own likeness to Him Who is Love becomes greater and greater.

We then discussed the love that God shows for the helpless in our First Reading from the book of Exodus. One Sister was particularly struck by the final line: “For I am compassionate.” That word, “compassionate,” comes from the Latin root meaning “to suffer with,” and as such it brought to Sister’s mind the incredible mystery of God entering into our suffering in the Incarnation and the Passion. He truly makes our weakness and lowliness His own, and He thus wins our love and trust in a special way. Furthermore, this reading shows how the Lord’s concern for the vulnerable is not general or vague – He gets into very specific details to ensure that His people mirror His own loving attitude towards the lowliest in society! Another Sister brought out how the “orphans” mentioned in this passage are specifically fatherless children. How many children in our world today never know their father, or suffer from fathers who do not live up to their vocation to protect and care for their families? And yet, by being so solicitous for the welfare of fatherless children, God assures them that He Himself will be a Father to them!

Finally, we came to today’s short but powerful Gospel. It becomes almost humorous as the Pharisees continue to try to “catch Jesus in His words” – haven’t they learned by this point that He always has a good answer? However, a Sister pointed out how Jesus doesn’t shoo them away in impatience, but keeps on engaging them in conversation! Hard-hearted as they are, the Pharisees are the religious leaders of Israel, and Jesus in His mercy wants to make every effort to reach out to them so that they might help lead the people into the Kingdom. Besides, this particular question had to be one that He was eager to answer, since it deals with the true core of the Law, which He is constantly emphasizing. “You shall love the LORD your God …”

But what exactly is love? The common definition in Christian circles is “willing the good of another.” However, one Sister brought out that while this definition works well with love for a fellow human being, it doesn’t apply as well to love of God. He is infinitely perfect and has all good in Himself, regardless of what we do, so how can we will His good? We came up with three interesting answers. One is that of St. Elizabeth of the Trinity: the “praise of His glory.” When we truly love God, we will that He be glorified at all times and by all creation, because of His incredible holiness and perfection. The second solution is proposed by St. Catherine of Siena. God knows that we cannot give Him anything He doesn’t have, so He offers us our fellow man to love and accepts charity towards our neighbor as done to Himself – “whatever you do to the least of these My brethren, you do unto Me!” Finally, a Sister proposed a uniquely Passionist solution. She reformulated the definition of love as “willingness to sacrifice oneself for another.” The saints throughout the ages, and especially the martyrs, have shown the truth of this statement as they “lay down their lives” for God and neighbor through the incredible power of charity!