Daily Retreat 10/26/08
2008 Oct 26 SUN: THIRTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Ex 22: 20-26/ Ps 17(18): 2-3. 3-4. 47. 51 (2)/ 1 Thes 1: 5c-10/ Mt 22: 34-40
From today’s readings: “I am compassionate.... I love you, Lord, my strength.... In every place your faith in God has gone forth.... Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”
Love your neighbor as yourself
The clear center of our moral obligation as Christians is the command to love: "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 considering these words of Jesus, we often rightly focus on the injunction to love God, with the realization that, no matter how much we truly love God at this moment in our lives, we still have room for our love to grow, for as of yet, who of us can claim truly that we love Him with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind?
Then too, there’s always room for improvement when it comes to love of neighbor as well - each of us can probably recall several moments in the past week when our love for neighbor was dreadfully lacking....
But what is often forgotten in the commandment is the part about loving yourself! Obviously, this is not an endorsement of self-centeredness and egotistic attitudes, but it is a reminder that, since God made us in love, each of us is intrinsically lovable and endowed with the loftiest destiny as a beloved child of God.
I recall one time in my childhood when I was in my room crying inconsolably. I don’t remember what it was about, whether I had been punished by my parents, or had just suffered some bitter disappointment. Anyway, I happened to look at myself in a mirror and see the grotesque expression on my face - and I had to laugh because I could hardly recognize myself! And as I laughed, I found that, try as I might, I couldn’t even return to my crying, because I realized that God, who made me in His own image and likeness, obviously made me for something more important than ugly faces.
That insight has returned to me numerous times when I felt bad about myself. Even though I am so clearly capable of messing up and making myself ugly with failures and sin and selfishness, God made me for more than any of that, and thus He stands ready and eager to dispel all the ugliness with the light of His countenance which shines, not just upon me from above, but also from within me, for I too am made in His image and likeness.
So, we must also learn to love ourselves as our neighbors, for God loves our neighbors as ourselves!
Ex 22: 20-26/ Ps 17(18): 2-3. 3-4. 47. 51 (2)/ 1 Thes 1: 5c-10/ Mt 22: 34-40
From today’s readings: “I am compassionate.... I love you, Lord, my strength.... In every place your faith in God has gone forth.... Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”
Love your neighbor as yourself
The clear center of our moral obligation as Christians is the command to love: "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 considering these words of Jesus, we often rightly focus on the injunction to love God, with the realization that, no matter how much we truly love God at this moment in our lives, we still have room for our love to grow, for as of yet, who of us can claim truly that we love Him with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind?
Then too, there’s always room for improvement when it comes to love of neighbor as well - each of us can probably recall several moments in the past week when our love for neighbor was dreadfully lacking....
But what is often forgotten in the commandment is the part about loving yourself! Obviously, this is not an endorsement of self-centeredness and egotistic attitudes, but it is a reminder that, since God made us in love, each of us is intrinsically lovable and endowed with the loftiest destiny as a beloved child of God.
I recall one time in my childhood when I was in my room crying inconsolably. I don’t remember what it was about, whether I had been punished by my parents, or had just suffered some bitter disappointment. Anyway, I happened to look at myself in a mirror and see the grotesque expression on my face - and I had to laugh because I could hardly recognize myself! And as I laughed, I found that, try as I might, I couldn’t even return to my crying, because I realized that God, who made me in His own image and likeness, obviously made me for something more important than ugly faces.
That insight has returned to me numerous times when I felt bad about myself. Even though I am so clearly capable of messing up and making myself ugly with failures and sin and selfishness, God made me for more than any of that, and thus He stands ready and eager to dispel all the ugliness with the light of His countenance which shines, not just upon me from above, but also from within me, for I too am made in His image and likeness.
So, we must also learn to love ourselves as our neighbors, for God loves our neighbors as ourselves!
posted by FrPitstick | 10/21/2008
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