First Reading - Ruth 1:1,3-6,14-16,22
Gospel - Matthew 22:34-40
In the first reading, Ruth faces a defining moment. Having lost her husband, she could have returned to her homeland and sought a new beginning. Instead, she chooses loyalty and love, clinging to her mother-in-law Naomi with the words, “Where you go, I will go; your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.” Ruth’s choice is not driven by self-interest but by devotion. It is love expressed in fidelity, even when the future seemed uncertain. Through that choice, God weaves Ruth into the great story of salvation, making her an ancestor of David and ultimately of Christ Himself.
In the Gospel, Jesus is asked about the greatest commandment. His response is clear and profound: love God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind, and love your neighbour as yourself. These two commandments sum up the entire law and the prophets. True faith, then, is not about rule-keeping or empty rituals but about love that flows first towards God and then overflows towards others.
Dear friends, Ruth’s life and Jesus’ teaching converge in a powerful truth: love is not merely a feeling but a decision, a daily choice. It is choosing to stay when it is easier to leave, to forgive when it is easier to resent, to serve when it is easier to be served. Love is the measure of our discipleship, the sign that we belong to God.
Each of us, like Ruth, faces moments where we must decide whether to walk away or to remain faithful — to our family, to our commitments, to our God. And each day, like the lawyer in the Gospel, we are reminded that our faith will be judged not by how much we know but by how deeply we love.
May today’s Word inspire us to choose love — the love of God above all and the love of neighbour without limits. For in making this choice, we not only fulfill the greatest commandment but also allow God to write His story of salvation through us.
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