March 12, 2021: Friday of the Third Week of Lent

Today's Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031221.cfm

As I read today’s Gospel, I could certainly identify with the scribe. With all the different teachings that Jesus shares, the scribe hopes to simplify things and discover the main guideline from which he should base his life. It’s like he is saying, “Jesus, I know that all your teachings are important. But to which one should I give the most attention?” Similarly, we often want to identify the main idea of a message given to us, in a classroom lecture or project at work. We seek to discover the main message that shouldn’t be missed and the scribe’s question applies this same process to our faith journey. Jesus proclaimed: “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.” 

Instead of saying that all of His commandments are equally important, Jesus answers the scribe by first emphasizing that God is God alone, we should love and serve God with all of our being.  Jesus shows that we are called to direct our whole lives to God, which includes our actions and choices. We should view the rest of Jesus’ teachings as helping us to love and become closer to God.  Jesus then points out that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves.  We are called to show God’s unceasing love for all people, which enables us to more fully see God’s presence in the world.

Selfish acts may be gratifying in the moment, but they have no long-term satisfaction. Our needs and wants are important but focusing our love solely on fulfilling our own desires leaves no room to love God and our neighbors. The scribe in today’s reading finds comfort in Jesus’ words. Despite our sins we still have the opportunity to love God with all our heart and love our neighbor as ourselves. By doing so, Jesus said we “are not far from the kingdom of God.” We put our faith and love in God, and we are forgiven for our prior selfish acts and can find further strength to live our lives in solidarity with our neighbors. When given the opportunity, how can we choose to be selfless in our actions for others?

- Ann Marie Callahan, Professor, School of Business and Computer Science, Caldwell University


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