October 22, 2008
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Breaking Open the Word By James Cavanagh Oct. 26: 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time Scripture readings: Theme: The law of charity. In both the Old Testament and the New Testament the love of God is inseparable from the love of neighbor. As our first reading shows, the love of neighbor has broad social implications. This passage, prefaced by the Ten Commandments (Ex 20) belongs to what is called “the book of the covenant” (Ex 20-23) which specifies the terms of the relationship between God and his people. It stresses a social ethic based on compassion for the most vulnerable members of society, especially widows, orphans and resident aliens. In our second reading Paul praises the Christians in Thessalonica for their deep faith and infectious joy, which was known throughout Macedonia and Achaia (modern Greece). The early Church grew rapidly in large part because Christians demonstrated their love of God by taking care of those no one else cared about. In this week’s Gospel reading, Jesus responds to a scholar of the law who asked him, “Which commandment in the law is greatest?” The two parts of the Great Commandment, as it is called, summarizes our whole duty to God and neighbor. Key verse: “The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments” (Mt 22:40). “Catechism of the Catholic Church”: “The New Law or the Law of the Gospel is the perfection here on earth of the divine law, natural and revealed. It is the work of Christ and is expressed particularly in the Sermon on the Mount. It is also the work of the Holy Spirit and through him it becomes the interior law of charity: ‘I will establish a New Covenant with the house of Israel. … I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people’ (Jer. 31:31). The New Law is called a law of love because it makes us act out of the love infused by the Holy Spirit, rather than from fear” (No. 1965; 1972). Pope Benedict XVI: “The love-story between God and man consists in the very fact that this communion of will increases in a communion of thought and sentiment, and thus our will and God’s will increasingly coincide: God’s will is no longer for me an alien will, something imposed on me from without by the commandments, but it is now my own will, based on the realization that God is in fact more deeply present to me than I am to myself. Then self- abandonment to God increases and God becomes our joy.” (“Deus Caritas Est”, 17). Application: Compassion and kindness aren’t limited to the private sphere of our personal relationships; these are values that should be reflected in our parish communities and in public policy. The value of a nation’s worth is not judged by its GDP or the Dow Jones industrial average, but by how it treats the most defenseless and most vulnerable members of society. |
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