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BUKAS LOOB SA DIYOS-DETROITDiyos ================================================================================== WSC REFLECTION GUIDE- for November 2006 Word: We are near the Kingdom of God when we love the Lord with all our being. Order: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength……love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mk 12:30-31) Reflection The question which the scribe posed to Jesus was not an idle one, “Which is the first of all the Commandments?” He was thinking of course, of all the regulations found in the Old Testament. The rabbis had analyzed the law and determined that it consisted of 613 distinct commandments, 248 positive and 365 negative. The scribe was sincere when he asked which is the greatest. Jesus did not hesitate. He immediately quoted from the Book of Deuteronomy, our first reading for this Sunday, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your whole being.” From which our Word for the month of November was taken: ‘We are near the Kingdom of God when we love the Lord with all our being.’ Note that Jesus breaks our being down into
three parts: heart, soul and mind. He also added that we must love
God with all our strength. Jesus used the occasion to teach man
the greatest provision and duty of human life - Love. Love will
provide for every need man has, therefore love is the greatest
duty of man. Man is responsible to maintain a loving relationship
with God. In a very practical sense, loving God involves the very
same factors that loving a person involves (Eph 5:22-33). In all these, man should love God supremely - He is One. He is our focus and concentration. He should be the Only Subject of our devotion. There is no reason, no excuse for distraction by any other subject. This is the reason why Jesus, in the Gospel of Mark (12:30-31) explicitly ask every one of us, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength…and love your neighbor as yourself.” As we reflect on our theme this Sunday, we are invited to look deeply in the person of the scribe who was so impressed with Jesus’ response and even supportive of it. He praises Jesus in his insight in words that captures the essence of Hosea 6:6 “It is love I desire not sacrifice.” Evidently moved by the man’s sincerity and similar, shared views, Jesus describes the scribe as “not far from the Kingdom of God.” Mark’s ending to the dialogue between Jesus and the scribe is reminiscent of the conclusion to the parable of the rich young man (Mk 10:17-30) which closed with Jesus looking on the young man with love. While the gospel narrated that the rich young man turned away sad because he had many possessions, we do not know what happened to the scribe. Perhaps in God’s grace, he was able to follow his insights and break away with the Pharisaic traditions; perhaps he was too deeply indoctrinated, too heavily entrenched. But how about you, are you still far from the kingdom of God? You are only a decision away from God! You only need to accept Him as your Lord and Savior and receive His gift of eternal life! Prayer: “Lord Jesus, use my life that others may see You as You are, My Lord, my Savior, the only King of my life, that they too may decide to make You King, and accept You as their Savior. In your name Lord Jesus I pray. Amen!”
Reflection: A scholar once said that “faith is in the center of sacrifice”. After internalizing this Sunday’s readings, one realizes that the scholar is indeed correct, that in fact “total faith is in the center of sacrificial giving”. In the first reading, the widow of Zerepath
demonstrated total faith in the Prophet Elijah as being an anointed
man of God. She trusted him completely that she served Elijah the
last meal that she was preparing for herself and her son. She willingly
sacrificed the handful of flour in her jar and a little oil in
her jug and faced possible starvation because of her total faith
in Elijah’s promise that “the jar of flour shall not
go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry” (1Kings 17:13a-14). The two widows’ narratives are inspiring with their total gift of self; but to others they may also appear to be unwise in giving all they had. What will they live on? In faith, however, giving everything we have to the Lord is an act of trust in God, an act of confidence in God, an act of love for God. While we may never be called to give away everything we own, our spirit needs to be willing to give whatever the Lord asks of us. It need not be monetary nor material things; what the Lord desires is the offering of ourselves. The Lord is asking us for great faith and generosity, like that of the widows, to move beyond our self-centered interests and fulfill the deepest needs of His people. Brothers and sisters, the Lord is asking us to serve without counting the cost and to give without expecting any reward. And knowing our inadequacies, He empowers us and vows to give the graces which will enable us to serve His kingdom. So whenever we find ourselves hesitating to offer our time to shepherd, to commit our talent to teach, or to give our treasure as tithe, let us remember the many times in our lives when our Lord had been faithful to us. Indeed, only when we acknowledge with all our heart and with all our being that our Lord loves us in ways we can never appreciate, can we have total faith and complete trust that He will provide us with our material and spiritual needs. And only then are we capable of sacrificial giving of our time, talent, and treasure to our less fortunate brethren, to our Community, and to our Lord God. Suggested Personal Reflection Guide:
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