Sunday - October 25, 2020
“If anyone does not wish to have Mary Immaculate for his Mother, he will not have Christ for his Brother.”
~~Saint Maximilian Kolbe
October 25, 2020
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 148
Reading 1
Thus says the LORD:
"You shall not molest or oppress an alien,
for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.
You shall not wrong any widow or orphan.
If ever you wrong them and they cry out to me,
I will surely hear their cry.
My wrath will flare up, and I will kill you with the sword;
then your own wives will be widows, and your children orphans.
"If you lend money to one of your poor neighbors among my people,
you shall not act like an extortioner toward him
by demanding interest from him.
If you take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge,
you shall return it to him before sunset;
for this cloak of his is the only covering he has for his body.
What else has he to sleep in?
If he cries out to me, I will hear him; for I am compassionate."
Responsorial Psalm
R. (2) I love you, Lord, my strength.
I love you, O LORD, my strength,
O LORD, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer.
R. I love you, Lord, my strength.
My God, my rock of refuge,
my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold!
Praised be the LORD, I exclaim,
and I am safe from my enemies.
R. I love you, Lord, my strength.
The LORD lives and blessed be my rock!
Extolled be God my savior.
You who gave great victories to your king
and showed kindness to your anointed.
R. I love you, Lord, my strength.
Reading 2
Brothers and sisters:
You know what sort of people we were among you for your sake.
And you became imitators of us and of the Lord,
receiving the word in great affliction, with joy from the Holy Spirit,
so that you became a model for all the believers
in Macedonia and in Achaia.
For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth
not only in Macedonia and in Achaia,
but in every place your faith in God has gone forth,
so that we have no need to say anything.
For they themselves openly declare about us
what sort of reception we had among you,
and how you turned to God from idols
to serve the living and true God
and to await his Son from heaven,
whom he raised from the dead,
Jesus, who delivers us from the coming wrath.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Whoever loves me
will keep my word, says the Lord,
and my Father will
love him and we will come to him.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
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."
When we have difficulty loving God with all our heart, mind and soul all the time, every day, every moment, no matter what's going on, it's usually because we're spending too much time focused on other people and/or on our own plans and wishes.
Yes, we must focus on others in order to love them. And yes we must focus on our own needs so that we can love others as much as we love ourselves. Our own needs are important and we are responsible for seeing that our needs get met; otherwise we don't have enough to share with others - enough energy, enough enthusiasm, enough kindness, enough patience, etc. Likewise, we can't focus so much on ourselves that we neglect the needs of others.
So the question then becomes: What are the priorities? In other words: How much time should we spend alone with God? How much time should we spend nurturing ourselves? How much of our time and needs and wants should be sacrificed for the sake of others?
Interestingly, we find the right balance only after we put God first and make our relationship with him our highest priority. This divine friendship is what heals us in our unmet needs. It's what empowers us to love others even when they are difficult to love. And we don't have to be alone with God all day to have intimacy with him.
We love him first and foremost simply by relying on him for success in loving others and ourselves. As long as we keep turning to him for guidance, healing and strength, we are loving him with all our heart, mind and soul all the time, every day, every moment, no matter what's going on.
How good are you at setting priorities and keeping God at the top? What puts your priorities out of order? What can you do to increase God's role in your everyday life?
Today's Prayer
Lord, give me the grace to have You alone reigning in my heart. Let there be no resistance within me. I praise and bless You for being my most precious treasure. Amen.
God Bless You.....
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