FRIDAY, AUGUST 20, 2010 - TWENTIETH WEEK OF ORDINARY TIME
EZEKIEL 37:1-14
The hand of the LORD came upon me, and led me out in the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the center of the plain, which was now filled with bones. He made me walk among the bones in every direction so that I saw how many they were on the surface of the plain. How dry they were! He asked me: Son of man, can these bones come to life? I answered, “Lord GOD, you alone know that.” Then he said to me: Prophesy over these bones, and say to them: Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: See! I will bring spirit into you, that you may come to life. I will put sinews upon you, make flesh grow over you, cover you with skin, and put spirit in you so that you may come to life and know that I am the LORD. I prophesied as I had been told, and even as I was prophesying I heard a noise; it was a rattling as the bones came together, bone joining bone. I saw the sinews and the flesh come upon them, and the skin cover them, but there was no spirit in them. Then the LORD said to me: Prophesy to the spirit, prophesy, son of man, and say to the spirit: Thus says the Lord GOD: From the four winds come, O spirit, and breathe into these slain that they may come to life. I prophesied as he told me, and the spirit came into them; they came alive and stood upright, a vast army. Then he said to me: Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They have been saying, “Our bones are dried up, our hope is lost, and we are cut off.” Therefore, prophesy and say to them: Thus says the Lord GOD: O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them, and bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and have you rise from them, O my people! I will put my spirit in you that you may live, and I will settle you upon your land; thus you shall know that I am the LORD. I have promised, and I will do it, says the LORD.
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MATTHEW
22:34-40
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."
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Love God and love your neighbor. This sums up the law and all the teachings of the prophets, and the teachings of Jesus as well. You can pretty much tell if you are doing something wrong if you ask: "Does this express my love of God or my rejection of God? Does this express my love of others or my selfishness?" If we read the Ten Commandments we can see that some concern our love of God and the others concern our love of our neighbor.
But there's more, and Jesus will illustrate the connection between these two great commandments in the 25th chapter of Matthew's Gospel. These two commandments are intimately connected to each other, so much so that one loves God through his neighbor. Love of God is made manifest in love of neighbor. St. John goes so far as to say one cannot love God if one does not love his neighbor. (1 John 4:7-12) The implications of this are astounding. If we hate anyone, if we refuse to forgive one another, if we show disdain for another, we cannot love God. Jesus tells us that if we refuse to respond to the needs of others it is the same as if we rejected Jesus himself. (see Matthew 25)
So, by trying to test Jesus, the Pharisees prompt a great teaching from him. If we want to see how much we love God, take a good, honest look at how we treat others.
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Lord Jesus, help me always to be aware of your presence in those who need my assistance. May my love for you be expressed in my love and concern for all I meet today.
Deacon Ed