| Homily
for the 31st Sunday of Ordinary Time: November
5, 2006
Given by the Most
Reverend Stephen E. Blaire at the Cathedral of the Annunciation
in Stockton.
I travel rather frequently in my capacity as
a bishop and I hear lots of cell phone conversations in the
airports, even though I try not to be distracted by them.
Most are business matters but on the personal calls often
I hear them ended with the words “love you.” These
are good words to hear. Even though the word “love”
today is trivialized in so many ways, it still can hold a
very profound meaning and sentiment. All of us were so moved
by the cell phone calls during 911 when spouses said “I
love you” to each other for the last time. LOVE is the
heart of our relationship with God and with one another.
It cannot be trivialized. It must be very real.
There are 613 precepts in the Old Testament
law, and the scribe wanted to know from Jesus which one was
the first and most important. We will always be grateful to
the scribe for asking this question. The Church has received
the answer of Jesus not only in Mark’s gospel but also
in Matthew and Luke. HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS LORD
ALONE. YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART,
WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR
STRENGTH. We are talking here about an inner disposition in
which we love God with all of our resources simply because
God is the Lord our God. This is the first and greatest commandment
from the Book of Deuteronomy. Remember, Jesus was first of
all a Rabbi, a Jewish teacher. But Jesus did not stop there
in his response. He added a second commandment from the Book
of Leviticus YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF. Then
Jesus said “There is no other commandment greater than
these.”
When Jesus saw that the scribe understood what
He was saying, he told him that he was not far from the kingdom
of God. Although scripture scholars are not exactly sure of
what this final statement of Jesus to the scribe means, they
generally agree that it refers to the future coming of the
kingdom when LOVE would be even more fully understood through
the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. “Greater
love than this no one has…. “ From John’s
gospel the Church would receive in written form these words
of Jesus: A NEW COMMANDMENT I GIVE YOU; LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS
I HAVE LOVED YOU.'’ We are talking here about a love
in which we live for God and for one another, for LOVE is
of God. The Greek word in the New Testament for LOVE is AGAPE.
Pope Benedict in his first encyclical “God
is Love” reminds us that AGAPE, Christian love, takes
us beyond selfishness to a concern and care for the other.
The one who loves wants to be there for the other but also
is ready to receive love from the other person as a gift.
Benedict further reminds us that Eucharistic communion in
Worship “includes the reality of being loved and of
loving others in return.” “A Eucharist which does
not pass over,” he says, “into the concrete practice
of love is intrinsically fragmented.” And in a very
important point in his encyclical he says, “ love is
never finished and complete; throughout life, it changes and
matures.”
There is a tradition that when John the
Beloved Disciple was very old he would be carried into the
assembly of Christians and the people would beg him to talk
about Jesus and his time on earth. The tradition says that
John would utter only these few words: LITTLE CHILDREN LOVE
ONE ANOTHER.
Last Update November 6, 2006
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