Friday of the Third Week of Lent
April 1, 2011
To see the readings, click here;
http://www.usccb.org/nab/040111.shtml
Today's gospel reading has someone asking Jesus what is the most important commandment. He answers, in part: "
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Sitting here trying to write something about that, I am humbled. It's just like, "hey, what can I possibly add to that?" It is clear and succinct and makes itself perfectly clear.
I know that following those two commands can be challenging to actually do, but somehow, I feel sure God gives partial credit. God created us, and somehow it seems that he made us with a natural instinct to love ourselves first and foremost. So loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength doesn't come naturally. And as for loving our NEIGHBOR as our self, well, good luck with that. Yes, we definitely can't keep these commandments on our own power. It is another example of how totally dependent we are on God's grace.
But at the same time, I think God does recognize and appreciate our efforts. Not that it would earn us salvation, but I still think it matters to God. I think that when he sees us responding to his love and loving him back, it makes him smile. And when we show kindness to other humans, and give to them when it isn't easy, and forgive them when they don't deserve it, I believe God notices and again, he smiles. And just like a child responds to his or her loving parent's smile, I think at some level when God smiles at us, we know it. We get that sense of feeling especially close to God. And it is good.
On a personal note, I will have the opportunity to test myself on putting God first for the next week. Keeping a discipline like this is fairly easy during the workweek, when I follow the same routine every day. Weekends are always harder. But starting tomorrow I am on vacation for 10 days. So we will see if I am able to keep my Lenten discipline as well when I am under more flexible circumstances.
Holy Father, thank you so much for giving us such clear guidance on how to please you. Please pour out your spirit upon us and help us to love and serve you, and to show our love for our neighbors. Help us to suppress our self-centeredness and focus on serving you and our brothers and sisters. Thank you, too, for forgiving us when we fall short and for showing us your undying love. Lord, we lift up those who are ill or in need, especially Delaney Diggs. Please bless all those we pray for according to their needs, and please grant Delaney a peaceful passing into your care. Amen
