Hughs reflection on the readings for Sunday, October 26, 2014 Exodus 22:20-26 Psalm 18:2-4,47,51 1 Thessalonians 1:5-10 Matthew 22:34-40 Christ’s answer to the Pharisees concerning the greatest commandment always resonated. I have prayed about what it means to ‘love God with my whole heart, my whole soul and my whole mind.’ How do I do that in a world so demanding of exactly the same things? I believe there are spiritual forces, evil in intent, happily celebrating my every decision to choose myself over my Lord. They even work to see it happens, although it is always my freedom of choice that makes the difference. My deficiencies to total commitment are easy for me to see during any kind of examination; something I have learned to do over the last few years. My mind strays easily, even in worship on Sunday! I once read a poem by the Polish poet, Czeslaw Milosz which hit home hard. He pokes at the many daydreams we fall prey to as we sit in the pews during Mass, over “the price of butter” and the amusing or provocative distractions of people around us. Then he continues, He dared to think they might be like that; That night when He knelt in the Garden of Olives; And felt on His back the cold sweat of dread. Milosz knew the pain of realizing other people simply are too wrapped in their own concerns to even acknowledge the “pain in the pews” all around them, let alone the sacrifice of the one Lord who is calling them to Himself.. The deficiencies of my own attention span are well known to me. Even concentrating the small ability I do have may be daunting for any stretch of time, let alone my ‘whole mind’. I seldom want to face what that really means. Then, of course, there is also the matter of my heart, which really accuses me. Where does my heart really lie? Can I love without betrayal or is my whole heart even capable of loving anyone but myself? The answer, if I am brave enough to address it, may prove hard to face. But then, even if I can rationalize my way around these, Jesus throws the clincher. Love my neighbor as myself? I am not sure I even love myself all the time. What light does that shed on the way I love my neighbor? How do I even begin to understand the reach of the commandment (remembering as Merton states, it is not merely a helpful suggestion, it is the fundamental law of human existence). I understand the parable of ‘who’ my neighbor is; it is my view of myself that sometimes blocks the light. Merton helped me in his book “No Man is an Island”. The prelude hammers home the point of what it means. Merton helped me to see the double commandment really only gives two aspects of the same love. Whatever may be said in the following pages rests upon this foundation. Man is divided against himself and against God by his own selfishness (pride), which (also) divides him against his brother. This division cannot be healed by a love that places itself only on one side of the rift…We cannot love ourselves unless we love others, and we cannot love others unless we love ourselves. He closes the chapter by quoting John Donne and reasserting his title, “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.” Jesus knows the importance to us of living in relationship, with him and one another. My brother’s pain must also be mine. The two commandments provide not only the path, they point to the Savior. Which neighbor causes the most distress in you? It might be the place to start. Write your story in the margins of your Bible this week as you pray over the readings. God wants a conversation with you. Begin today. God Bless, Hugh
Posted on: Fri, 24 Oct 2014 10:23:28 +0000
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