Sign up to receive daily meditations in your email box. Meditations are composed by Deacon Ed and based on the Mass readings of the Day. (See TODAY'S MEDITATION below).
Sign up by entering your email address on the sign up form on the home page.
TODAY'S MEDITATION
FRIDAY, MARCH 12, 2010 - THIRD WEEK OF LENT
HOSEA 14:2-10
Thus says the LORD: Return, O Israel, to the
LORD, your God; you have collapsed through your guilt. Take with you words, and
return to the LORD; Say to him, "Forgive all iniquity, and receive what is good,
that we may render as offerings the bullocks from our stalls. Assyria will not
save us, nor shall we have horses to mount; We shall say no more, ‘Our god,' to
the work of our hands; for in you the orphan finds compassion."
I will
heal their defection, says the LORD, I will love them freely; for my wrath is
turned away from them. I will be like the dew for Israel: he shall blossom like
the lily; He shall strike root like the Lebanon cedar, and put forth his shoots.
His splendor shall be like the olive tree and his fragrance like the Lebanon
cedar. Again they shall dwell in his shade and raise grain; They shall blossom
like the vine, and his fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon. Ephraim! What
more has he to do with idols? I have humbled him, but I will prosper him. "I am
like a verdant cypress tree"– Because of me you bear fruit!
Let him who
is wise understand these things; let him who is prudent know them.
Straight are the paths of the LORD, in them
the just walk, but sinners stumble in them.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
MARK 12:28-34
One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked
him, "Which is the first of all the commandments?" Jesus replied, "The first is
this: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! 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."
The scribe said to him, "Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, He is One and there is no other than he. And to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."
And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding, he said to him, "You are not far from the Kingdom of God." And no one dared to ask him any more questions.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
If you read
through the Ten Commandments, in fact if you read through all the laws and
prescriptions in the Scriptures, you will find that they fall under one of these
two commandments that Jesus calls the two greatest commandments. They either
have to do with our relationship with God or our relationship with each other.
They have to do with love of God or love of neighbor. In fact, Jesus tells us
elsewhere that they are intimately connected. We cannot love God without loving
our neighbor. Love of God is expressed and made real in loving our neighbor.
"And who is my neighbor?" the Samaritan asked. My neighbor is the
person I work with, the person who lives next door, the driver who cut me off
this morning on the way to work. My neighbor is the family member I have a
running feud with. He is the starving child in a far off land. My neighbor is
the person who needs my help the most, the person who needs my forgiveness, the
one from whom I need forgiveness.
St. John tells us that we cannot love God whom we do not see if we do not love
our neighbor, our brother or sister, whom we do see. In fact he tells us that
if we claim to love God but hate our neighbor, our brother or sister; if we
cheat each other, abuse each other,
then the
love of God is not within us. We are liars. Love of God is reflected in love of
neighbor. It is made manifest in our relationships with one another.
We cannot love God whom we do not see, if we do not love those people we meet
each day whom we do see.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Lord Jesus, I don't know how to love as I ought. Fill with your love that it
may overflow to those I meet today. Help me to love each person in my life with
the love you have for me.
PAST MEDITATIONS
Thursday, November 12 Wednesday, November 18 Wednesday, December 2 Friday, December 4
Tuesday, December 8 Tuesday, January 26 Wednesday, January 27 Thursday, January 28
Tuesday, February 2 Thursday, February 11 Monday, February 22 Tuesday, February 23
Monday, February 22 Wednesday, February 24 Thursday, February 25 Tuesday, March 9