HOMILY FOR THURSDAY OF 9TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME. (2)

HOMILY FOR THURSDAY OF 9TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME.

THEME: There is no commandment greater than love for God and for our brothers and sisters.

BY: REV. FR. DEOTATIOUS CHIKONTWE SMA.

*READINGS OF THE DAY*
Tobit 6:10-11; 7:1, 9-17; 8:4-9
Psalm 128:1-2, 3, 4-5
Mark 12:28-34

HOMILY FOR THURSDAY OF 9TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME.

THEME: There is no commandment greater than love for God and for our brothers and sisters.

BY: REV. FR. DEOTATIOUS CHIKONTWE SMA.

*READINGS OF THE DAY*
Tobit 6:10-11; 7:1, 9-17; 8:4-9
Psalm 128:1-2, 3, 4-5
Mark 12:28-34

*LITURGICAL COLOUR*
GREEN

*INTRODUCTION*
Good morning dear brothers andsisters in Christ, today we celebrate Thursday of week 9 in Ordinary Time.

*FROM OUR FIRST READING*
The first reading tells of the coming together in marriage of Tobias, Tobit’s son, and Sarah, the daughter of Raguel. On their wedding night, they both prayed to God. The prayer first acknowledges God as worthy of blessing, ‘Let the heavens bless you…’ and only then moves to petition, ‘Be kind enough to have pity on her and on me and bring us to old age together’. There is a similar pattern in the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to pray. They are first to acknowledge God as worthy of blessing, ‘hallowed by your name’, and only then are they to petition God for their needs, ‘give us this day our daily bread…’. The focus on God is prior to the focus on ourselves.

RELATED: HOMILY FOR WEDNESDAY OF 7TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME.

*FROM OUR GOSPEL READING*
There is a similar pattern in Jesus’ reply to the question of the scribe in the gospel reading, ‘Which is the first of all the commandments?’ Jesus declares that the first commandment is fully focused on God. It is only God who is to be loved with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Jesus immediately gives what he considers to be the second most important commandment, which has a focus on ourselves, ‘you must love your neighbour as yourselves’. Jesus is saying that even in the midst of our most precious human relationships our primary focus is to be on God, because God alone is deserving of all our love. It is in loving God with all our being that our human loves is complete.

*CONCLUSION*
We cannot love God without loving our neighbour, and in loving our neighbour we are, at the same time, loving God. Yet, the two commandments are not on the same level, one is first and one is second. It is the love of God which is to be the primary love in our lives. We owe the greatest devotion to God. As Jesus says in one of the other gospels, ‘Seek first the kingdom of God’. God as revealed in Jesus is to be our greatest love. If we are caught up into a loving relationship with God, it will overflow into a love of all those whom God loves, and our various human loves for other people will reflect something of God’s love for them.

Your Word is indeed my Strength Oh Lord our God. May You All Have a Blessed Thursday.

Rev Fr Deotacious Chikontwe SMA.

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