HOMILY FOR 30th SUNDAY IN THE ORDINARY TIME - YEAR A

HOMILY FOR 30th SUNDAY IN THE ORDINARY TIME – YEAR A

THEME: REAL HAPPINESS LIES IN FOCUSING ON THE NEEDS OF OTHERS

Fr. Augustine Ikechukwu Opara

(EX.22:20-26,1THES. 1:5-10, MATT. 22:34:40)
Love resumes the whole of Christian Scriptures, Revelation and all the Laws of God and the Church that exist. Loving God and loving our neighbor should be the heart of our daily lives, the springboard of our actions, the basis of our decisions, the reason for our prayer life, the motivation of our lifestyle and the very reason why we live together on earth. Responding to the question of the Teacher of the Law today: ‘Master, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?’, Jesus stressed the direct relationship between love of God and love of neighbor. He explained that the rest of the laws are based on the two. They are like the hinges on which the entire law hung.

Years ago, the famous English pop group, the Beatles had a song called ‘All you need is love’. But what did they mean by the word love? Nowadays there are many different understandings of it. The meaning love has moved from sacrificial and heroic actions to mere emotions e.g., sentimentality, romantic love, sex without commitments and so on. The Christian definition and a good test to see how we measure up is that given by St. Paul in 1 Cor.13 ‘Love is always patient and kind, it is never boastful, jealous, or conceited. It is never rude or selfish; it does not take offence and is not resentful’ etc. We can easily put the name of Jesus in the place of love. Could we put our own names?

Interestingly Jesus does not give us a choice. He says that loving God is the first and greatest commandment. It is from that relationship with God that the second gets its meaning and importance. The two loves are not meant to be conflicting. It is not a question of either one or the other but ‘both. This is why the second commandment resembles the first. “Anyone who says, ‘I love God’, and hates his brother, is a liar” (1Jn 4:20). “On these two commandments hang the whole Law, and the Prophets also.

The concept of neighbor is broadened. In Jesus’ time, there was a whole discussion as to “who is my neighbor?” Some doctors of the law thought the concept of neighbor had to be extended beyond the limits of race. Others would not hear of this. So, a doctor turns to Jesus and asks this vexed question: “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus replies with the parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:29-37), where the neighbor is neither the relative nor the friend, but all those who approach us, irrespective of religion, race, gender or language! You must love him!

But to love means to give your whole self, holding nothing back. If you’re holding things back, you really don’t know what love is yet. Love is a totality of surrender. How do we know this? “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” And what did His Son do? He died on a cross. And why did he do that? So that we might understand that the great mystery is not that God loves us, but the kind of love that he has for us. He would die and suffer and give his whole being as a human being. He would do that just for one of us. Thus, God focused on our needs first and attended to them in sacrifice.

But how do we love our neighbor? Still found in the New Testament, particularly in Mt 25, we can follow what the church calls the Corporal Works of mercy: To feed the hungry; To give drink to the thirsty; To clothe the naked; To help the homeless; To visit the sick; To ransom the captive; To bury the dead.

After such beautiful readings in today’s liturgy, we are challenged to put this love into practice. Do you find it difficult to love anyone? This recommendation can be our litmus test: make a special effort to love the person whom you find it difficult to love.
God bless you.

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