Friday, March 29, 2019
Lenten Weekday
1st Reading:
Hos 14:2-10
Gospel: Mark 12:28-34
A teacher of the Law had been listening to this discussion and admired how Jesus answered them. So he came up and asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?”
Jesus answered, “The first is: Hear, Israel! The Lord, our God, is One Lord; and you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. And after this comes another one: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these two.”
The teacher of the Law said to him, “Well spoken, Master; you are right when you say that he is one and there is no other. To love him with all our heart, with all our understanding and with all our strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves is more important than any burnt offering or sacrifice.”
Jesus approved this answer and said, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” But after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions.
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
Jewish religious leaders crafted so many enabling laws over the Ten Commandments. The enabling laws themselves were given the same weight as the Ten Commandments. Burdened by so many laws to observe, the natural question then was: Which is the most important of such commandments?
To the people who were already enslaved by so many laws, Jesus said: “Come to me all those who are weary and find life burdensome and I will refresh you… for my yoke is easy and my burden is light”. “Easy yoke” was in reference to the news law of love he was proposing. Under this new law, one loves God by loving the neighbor. Loving the neighbor will be sustained only when one enters first into a loving relationship with God. Without love of God, humanity’s love for one another cannot remain sublime. This is because the human heart is wounded by division and by many other social and spiritual illnesses.
This was echoed by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in his February 19, 2006 Angelus message at the Vatican Square. He said: “humanity bears the signs of sin which prevent it from progressing quickly in those values of fraternity, justice and peace, which it has proposed itself in solemn declarations.”
In this regard the Pontiff proposed: “Only the love of God can renew man’s heart, and only if the heart of paralyzed humanity is healed can it get up and walk. The love of God is the true force that renews the world,” he stressed.
Jewish religious leaders needed to craft so many enabling laws to ensure compliance of the Ten Commandments. But there was only need for one, not many: the law of love. – (Atty.) Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M.
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