From the responsorial psalm: “Let them give thanks to the LORD for his mercy and his wondrous deeds to the children of men, Because he satisfied the longing soul and filled the hungry soul with good things. Give thanks to the Lord; his love is everlasting.”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 22:34-40)
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law, tested him 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. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
Jesus is being tested. First the Sadducees and then the Pharisees approached him with questions about Jewish law. The Sadducees, who did not believe in the resurrection, had just approached Jesus about the marriage obligations of those at the time of resurrection. Now a scholar of the law hears of Jesus’ response and tests him by asking which is the greatest commandment. Jesus recites the Shema, the Jewish prayer that includes the phrase “you shall love the Lord” and is made up of three passages from the Hebrew Bible. The Shema’s name comes from the first Hebrew word of the prayer, shema, which means “hear” or “listen.” But then Jesus says something new: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” In coupling these two commandments, Jesus teaches that they are not merely rules to follow but are rooted in the call to love. As the fulfillment of the commandments, carried out in words and action, love shapes our response to both God and neighbor and sets them in relationship to one another.
God, I hear the second commandment and realize how far I fall short in following through. It seems no heavy burden to love myself. The other parts are difficult, really impossible by my own power—to love you with all my being and to love others. “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” How do I love you with my all without first knowing what it is to love another fully, and how do I do that without loving you with all my heart, soul, and mind? Show me, Lord, how to do both through your Son. Let Christ live in me so that I can love you and others as he did out of his whole being for the sake of your glory. Work with me, Lord; teach me your paths, and guide me in your truth.
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.