Homily: 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B

Readings: Dt 6:2-6; Ps 18; Heb 7:23-28; Mk 12:28b-34
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"Which is the greatest commandment?" This question, put to Jesus by an unnamed scribe, was no simple inquiry. The Torah, the Jewish Law, was full of commandments - 613 of them according to later rabbinic tradition - and this scribe was honestly searching for an answer to his question. Was there one commandment that encompassed them all? 

Jesus says, "Yes", and provides an answer from Deuteronomy, by referring first to the Shema. This Hebrew word means "Hear," the first word of the command: "Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone."

And so Jesus answers first by saying that God is One. He is One, and One Alone. And if God is Lord Alone, there is no other to worship. He takes the Scribe back to that day when Moses first asked God to identify Himself. What is your name?

"I am who am." And then God adds, "This is what you shall tell the Israelites: I AM sent me to you." And so, this is our God. Our God is "I AM." Our God is not one God among others. No, He is existence itself. As John tells us, "without Him nothing came to be." And so the words from Deuteronomy, the words of the Shema, seem fitting and proper, don't they?

Jesus continues from Deuteronomy: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength." It's an answer that rolls up all the laws, prohibitions, and commandments into one.

Jesus also takes us back to the first of the Ten Commandments, "I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other gods before me." We often interpret this as God saying, "Put me first."  We see it as a question of having the right priorities. But to think that way would be wrong. Putting no other gods "before" me doesn't mean "ahead of me," it means "anywhere in my sight."  God can see above, below, around, and through.

It's an all-consuming commandment.  Anything that is not of God is to be removed from our lives. It's an all-infusing commandment.  Even that which is good is to be immersed and permeated by God. The Oneness and Aloneness of God means that not one fiber of our being can be spent on anything but that which is good, that which comes from God.  We are called to see and honor God everywhere, in all things, in all the activities of our lives. 

God's Oneness, therefore, is a call to relationship. If there is no other to love, then we must give our heart to God. If there is no other to care for us, then we must allow our being to be shaped and molded by God.   If there is no other to follow, then God must order all our thoughts and intentions. If there is no other to whom we can devote our energy, then whom are we to serve?  In all of this we become one with God.

This doesn't mean we are called to desert our ordinary lives, to run off to the mountain top and lose ourselves in contemplation...although a little retreat from time to time wouldn't be a bad idea.

No, becoming one with God means to find God in all of life, because God is there, everywhere present. He's in our music and in our dance, in our work and in our play, in our romance and adventures, in our families and our friends, and in those we dislike, those we mistrust, those we avoid...God is there!

From God's cosmic perspective, His command to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength - with all of our being - expands to include everything we do that is pleasing to God. Being one with One God is not a flight from reality; it's a true and complete embrace of reality. If God is One, then all creation, all humanity comes from God. There is no other source of creation. And if indeed we become one with God, then we also become one with all that comes from God.

And so, out of that one commandment, bursts a second, from Leviticus: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." For, truly, we are all children of God, expending our energy and living our lives in ways that, in the end, give glory to God our Creator. What gives glory to Him? What on earth is pleasing to God? Nothing less than obeying this second commandment, which flows logically from the first.

Our neighbors spring from the heart of God.  If we touch them we touch the heart of God. As God loves them we must love them too. God is One, and cannot be divided. To separate ourselves from our neighbor is to separate ourselves from God. To harm that which is created by God is to do violence to the Creator.

When we profess that Jesus is Lord, we attest to the truth of His call and become advocates for His vision of the world, taking on His concerns, bringing His love to others. By describing ourselves as Christians, we say we are Christ-like, that we will love as Christ loves.

The question is, do we?

Do we reach to the poor and homeless, to those who hunger and thirst, to the sick and imprisoned, or do we blame them for their situation?

Do we believe in the dignity and honor of all people, or just those who live as we feel they should?

Do we forgive as Jesus forgives, or do we find satisfaction in harboring our own hurts and hatreds?

Most of us probably come down on both sides of these questions at one time or another, because we, too, are sinners. Yes, in our sinfulness, we gather in this sacred space, as others gather in churches throughout the world, all of us possessed of the hope that through God's grace we'll become more Christ-like.

We take instruction from God's Word.

We admonish one another to be more loving and forgiving, without sacrificing the Truth.

And we eat from the sacred altar, the table of this Eucharistic sacrifice, receiving the Saving Body and Blood of Christ, all the while praying that it will transform our hearts.

You see, sisters and brothers, our hearts are connected not to our mouths, but to our hands. To discover the truth of our commitment to these two great commandments, others look to what we do, not what we say. It's by the work of our hands that we test the call of Jesus to love the Lord our God with our whole hearts, and to love our neighbor as ourselves.

We press our hands together in prayer to connect the hands with the heart and drink deeply of the grace of God, and once we have been filled with that peace and passion, we go forth - we go forth with open hands so we can touch the world with the Spirit and presence of Jesus Christ.
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And don't forget to vote, to vote as an informed and faithful Catholic.