First Reading - Ruth 1:1-22
Gospel - Matthew 22:34-40
The gospel of today is certainly remarkable because this brings to fore the very core teaching of Jesus: the commandment of love - which he lived, taught and preached. It was out of evil plot of Pharisees, who wanted to trap Jesus, one of them asked the question:"Master, which is the greatest commandment of the law?" By the time Jesus was preaching and teaching, there were 613 laws in effect. Hence, the intricacy lies in sorting out one of them. Jesus gave a very straightforward answer to the question - love. Elaborating this, he said:"You must love your Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." And adding to this, on the parallel stance, "You must love your neighbours as yourself."
The first commandment that Jesus singles out refers to 'loving God with our heart, soul and mind'. This commandment includes the whole personality of a person or whole being of a person. This commandment demands that God must be loved in totality of all self. There is no any fraction or part dedicated to something or somebody but God alone. It means giving God the first priority of love and 💯% of it.
The second commandment demands that we have to 'love our neighbours as ourselves'. It means as we love ourselves or as much as we care for ourselves, our comfort, our lives that much of love we have to also invest in our fellow beings. We also have to care for our fellow beings as we care for ourselves; we also have to show concern for others as much as we are concerned about ourselves and thus we will follow the commandment of 'loving our neighbours'.
The first reading beautifully exemplifies the commandment of love by Ruth, a Moabite woman. Ruth was widowed after the death of her husband. She was not obliged to stay with her mother-in-law who was elderly. She could go back to her land and live her life anew but her dedication and fidelity to her mother-in-law is seen in her decision to stay with her. She accepted her mother-in-law as her mother and God of Israel as her God and gave up other gods of her ancestors. There we see an example of real love for God and love for neighbour; in this case Ruth's love for her mother-in-law and Yahweh.
Dear friends, today the word 'love' is so much exploited and abused for one's benefit. What is this true love Jesus speaks about? It's seeking good for the other whatever and however good or bad situation may be. When Jesus says:"You must love your Lord your God", he means our aim should be to please our God, our love, at all time. This is how we can show our love for God. How can we please God? It's by doing what God wills from us. When Jesus says: "You must love your neighbours." He means we should seek good for our fellow being however bad he/she may be and however pathetic he or she may be, just as we love ourselves as we are and in whatever situation we are. Let's strive to keep commandment of love which is our Christian identity and law of life. There are many who need love. It's love which can change the pathetic situations of many. Let's become an instrument of love for the unloved, uncared and unwanted.
May God help us keep His commandment of love.
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