Exod.

22: 20-26
Cycle A I Thes. 1: 5-10 29 October 2017
Mt. 22: 34-40
 INTRODUCTION:
Trying to trap Jesus again,
as we have seen these past
several weeks, the Pharisees
this time ask Jesus which
of the commandments of
the Law is the greatest.
What was Jesus' answer?
1 Let me begin with an
anecdote about two people
in love I have known as
JP and Lady.
1
JP is a young, handsome, very
available single man who has a
two-year-old special child with
autistic tendencies from his
former girlfriend and loves to live
in a ranch-house with a rustic
ambiance in Puerto Princesa,
Palawan, for the sake of his
autistic child, Peanut.
1
Beautiful city-girl Lady came
from a failed Church marriage
with her first husband.

What is special about

these two people in love?
1
JP loved Lady so much that he
waited for her to get her civil and
Church annulments before he
married her in Church which took
several years after he decided her
to be the woman of his love.
1
The city girl Lady lived with JP in
his ranch in Palawan and lovingly
took care of his autistic child
Peanut. JP loves Lady and
Lady loves what JP loves!
2
Jesus' clear and simple answer is

"You shall love the Lord, your

God, with your whole heart,
with your whole soul, with all
your mind. This is the greatest
and first commandment. The
second is like it: 'you shall love
your neighbor as yourself.
(vv. 37-40)
2
Today's Gospel sets the tone for
your entire life! The first part
of the quote is not too
controversial: direct all of your
love towards the highest good,
GOD, the Creator of all things.
The whole of our life should
be directed to God.
2 Discerning to follow God's will
is the center and the priority
in your life,
not wealth, not pleasure, not power,
not honor, not knowledge, not
country, not political party, not
family: all of which are good in
themselves but God must be the
center of your life and all those
will find their rightful place.
2
As Card. Suhard of Paris said:

"Live your life in such

a way that it would
make no sense unless
God exists."
3
Why did Jesus
immediately add the
second commandment?
The Pharisees were only
asking for one --
the greatest!
3
Because God loves everyone and
everything he has created or otherwise
they would not exist unless he loves
them.
Therefore, if we love
him with all that we
got, we should also
love what he loves.
3
JP loves Lady and Lady
loves what JP loves
because she loves him.
Think of someone who is
repulsive to you!
Remember that he has
been loved into existence
by God.
3
What matters most is
not what that person's
worth to you but his
worth to God.
3 That is why in the first reading God asks from the
Israelites to love the poor and the marginalized:

"You shall not molest or oppress an alien for

you were once aliens yourselves in the land of
Egypt. You shall not wrong any widow or
orphan. . . If you lend money to one of your poor
neighbors, you shall not act like an extortion era
toward him by demanding interest from him."
(Exod 22: 20 and ff)
3
God appears to
love with a special
love those who are
in most need of
love.
So should we!
3
That is why the Church over the last
50 years or more has been
repeatedly teaching about the
preferential Love for the poor.
 CONCLUSION:

Who right now in your

life is in most need of
your love?

There is the whole

of Christian Life!
+ART