How do we love God? We are commanded to love God with our whole heart, soul and mind? This is the first commandment. From an incarnational reality, what does this mean? Well, Jesus implicitly gives the answer when he says the “second is like it” (Mt 22:34-40). Jesus means that to love one’s neighbor as one’s self is like the first commandment…the two are intimately connected and cannot be separated. To know what Jesus means by ‘love of neighbor’ we can turn to other teachings of Jesus: we are called to love our enemies; and if struck on one cheek we are to offer the other cheek; we are not to retaliate, either by word or by hand (Mt 5:43-44, Mt 5:40). To give another example, we have the story of the ‘Good Samaritan’ (Lk 10:29-37). Jesus tells this story in response to the question he is asked: ‘Who is my neighbor’? ‘My neighbor’ in Jesus’ mind and heart is expansive, it includes everyone: my enemy, the one who thinks different or whose views are different, who acts different, the one with whom I am in most conflict with right now, and even the one who would strike me down.

Once again, we have a parable that Jesus uses to teach the word of God. The parable for this 28th Sunday is a wedding feast that a king has prepared for his son. If we were to do a scholarly review of the text, we would see that the early church used this parable by adding on its own moral precepts through inserting allegory into the parable. There is nothing ‘wrong’ with this, but it can elude the underlying meaning of Jesus’ message in this particular parable. For example: the servants sent out to invite people are ‘mistreated’ and some ‘killed’. And then the king sends ‘his troops’ who go and ‘kill those murderers’. So: what happens to Jesus’ earlier teaching on ‘Love your enemies’…and ‘if you are struck on one cheek, offer your other cheek’? Remember in an earlier chapter talk I mentioned that the Jesuit scripture scholar Fr. John Donahue stated that Jesus in his parables disorients us in order to orient our minds and hearts to see as God sees. Jesus disorients human ways and he challenges the old way of ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’ with the radical call for love…indeed our love must extend to include our enemies.

Readings of the Day
RB: Ch 15 When the Alleluia Should Be Said
Mass: Ep 1:11-14; Resp Ps 33; Lk 12:1-7


Not one of them has escaped the notice of God.
Our Lord loves each and every one of us, without exception, for 'the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the

Readings of the day: RB 7:56-58Mass: 2 Tm 2:8-15; Resp Ps 25; Mk 12:28-34

Our Savior Jesus Christ has destroyed death and brought life to light through the Gospel.(Gospel Acclamation, Mass)
The spotlight shines on the commandments, most specifically the first, Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love

Wednesday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time
Readings of the day: RB 7:24-30Mass: 1 P 1:18-25; Resp Ps 147; Mk 10:32-45
Gertrud von Helfta, Merazhofen Pfarrkirche ChorgestühlLOVE ONE ANOTHER INTENSELY FROM A PURE HEART.
Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealo