The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
First Reading - Deuteronomy 7:6-11
Second Reading - 1 John 4:7-16
Gospel - Matthew 11:25-30
In the first reading, Moses displays to people a compassionate and loving nature of God. Moses reminds the people that they are specially consecrated to God, since God himself has loved them and chosen them. Therefore, He further advises people to remain faithful to God by observing His commandments. He also further assures that those who faithfully observe His commandments, God remains always gracious to them.
The second reading a piece of exhortation to abide by the commandment of love. The passage defines that God is love which means love is the very nature of God. Therefore, those who aspire to follow God in the person of Jesus must abide by the commandment of love expressed for one another. It's in our loving relationship with one another the commandment of love is observed and God abides among us.
The gospel passage is replete with the message of humility. Jesus thanks God, the Father for revealing the mysteries of heaven to the children. Who are the children? It's certainly symbolic expression of referring to those who were dependent and were humbled because of not having any social recognition. The word 'children' is certainly used for the disciples of Jesus who listened to Jesus and believed in Him. They mostly didn't belong to any elite group. However, they were open to receive the message of salvation, the message of the kingdom. It's certainly required humility to approach Jesus to listen and believe in him.
Jesus further invites those who are heavily burdened to come to him. He says: My yoke is easy. The symbol of 'yoke' refers to the Laws present for the Jews. Jesus claims that the commandment he proposes is light or easy. What's this commandment? It's love.
Dear friends, God loves each one of us. However, God expects that we must reciprocate that love. As the first reading exhorts us to learn to reciprocate God's love by observing the commandment of God. This also assures that our faithful observance will meet God's graciousness in our lives. The second reading further elaborates what is the commandment of God for us; It's love. Therefore, we should live the commandment of love in our daily live by loving one another. Certainly, to love another is a big challenge because to love one another means to be able to accept and respect a person with his or her weakness and strength. It's easier to love a person who matches with our expectations but it's difficult when a person is completely different and contrary to our expectations. However, the readings invite us to have love as our expression of our daily life with everyone.
However, the gospel reminds us to observe the commandment of God is a humble act. In fact, love itself is a humble gesture. It's so because love does not hurt or harm but respects and accpets.Therefore, it's challenging. When we say: God loves us. It's really a humble gesture from the side of God who need not love us yet He loves us.
Let's imitate the loving nature of God in our lives.
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