Shema New Israel! Dt 6:2-6; Hb 7:23-28 Mk 12:28-34 (31 B)

 

Shema New Israel!

Dt 6:2-6; Hb 7:23-28 Mk 12:28-34 (31 B)

The Lord is faithful in all his words and loving in all his deeds. Alleluia.

 

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind” is a prayer of every Jew in the Old Testament. Our love of God becomes illusory if it does not result in our loving each other even our enemies. And if the love of neighbor is divorced from the love of God, it could become refined self-love. So, it tells us that the love of God is realized only by the love of neighbor.

 

Just before the birth of Christ, someone asked Hillel, a renowned Jewish scholar, “Which is the greatest commandment?” He answered, “What you hate for yourself, do not do to your neighbor”. Commenting on the greatest Deuteronomic commandment, St Augustine advised, “Love God first, and then do what you will.” It means that if we love God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind, then we cannot but be obedient to his will for neighbor.

 

John the evangelist writes, “Anyone who says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, is a liar, for how can a man who does not love the brother that he can see, love God whom he has never seen? So, this is the commandment that he has given us, that anyone who loves God must also love his brother” (1 Jn 4:20f).  If we embrace this commandment and put it into practice, it will become truly radical. We will be seen as odd and foolish by the non-Christians. Because the wisdom of God contradicts the knowledge of the world. The life comes from death, gain comes from loss, and receiving comes from giving. Christ had to die and come to life again so that we might share a new life with him in heaven. He gave up his life, his energies, and his time in the service of others.

 

We don’t have to tread the same path as Christ. What it indicates, however, is that our surrender to God does not mean that we retreat into a paradise of unreal spirituality. It means that if we love God, then we must concern ourselves with others. It means that we must rise above ourselves, and our interests, and become convinced by Christ’s words in St Paul, “There is greater happiness in giving than in receiving” (Acts 20:35).

 

Poet William Wordsworth once wrote, “The world is too much with us.” It means that people are so consumed by material pursuits that they are neglecting their connection to nature and essentially “wasting” their potential by not appreciating the beauty around them. “Shema Yisrael,” meaning “Listen Israel!” – Let us not focus on materialism in modern life. Let us do as much good as possible with our God-given powers in serving God and others. But Shema new Israel! Always remember the promise of Jesus: “Whoever remains in me, with me in him, bears fruit in plenty” (Jn 15:5).

 

“My son, pay attention to my words. Listen carefully to what I say” (Divine Office)