A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 22:34-40)
A scholar of the law, tested Jesus by asking, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Following his encounter with Sadducees concerning the resurrection of the dead, Jesus is approached by the Pharisees. In his response to one of the Pharisees, Jesus lays out his entire moral groundwork, building on teachings from the Old Testament and offering guiding principles for his Church on earth. “The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments,” Jesus tells the scholar of the law. Where does a genuine relationship with God lead? The first commandment frees us from strict, legalistic observance to do the second. Jesus challenges us to cultivate a deep love for God and in turn to express that love through acts of compassion, mercy, and justice toward others.
God, help me today to dwell on what it means to love others as I love myself. I know very well how to take care of myself with all the perks and self-pampering. And if I am attentive, I know that means putting myself and my needs behind the needs of others. Help me, Lord, increase my love for you and in that show greater compassion, mercy, and love to others. Give me the grace to free myself from anything that keeps me from loving you with all my heart, with all my soul, and with all my mind.
From the responsorial psalm: “The LORD keeps faith forever, secures justice for the oppressed, gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets captives free.”
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.