Sunday, August 22, 2021
Bible Reflections I 23.08.2021- Monday I Indraya Manna I
Readings
I - I Thess. 1: 1-5, 8-10
II - Mt. 23: 13-22
LOVE OF GOD AND LOVE OF NEIGHBOUR: THE AXIS OF DIVINE LIVING
Love of God and love of neighbour are the axis upon which revolves the whole of law and the prophecy. Under the pretext of being faithful to the law of the Lord to its minutest details, the Scribes and the Pharisees have multiplied and made the observance of the law more difficult, cumbersome, tiring, impossible and disgusting. The essence of the law was diluted to mere ritual and a hypocrisy. In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus reprimands such pharisaic attitude of hypocrisy and insists on the importance of the indispensable higher value of life grounded on love.
The ‘way of life’ exclusively based on love marked out by Jesus, attracted, inspired and encouraged the sinners, the tax collectors, the oppressed, the hopeless, the outcasts and the discouraged of the society imbuing them to prefer the path of the Lord with joy, gratitude, enthusiasm and zeal. From the heart of love springs forth, compassion, mercy, empathy, understanding, forgiveness, hope and encouragement, enveloping everyone to choose and live for God and His people. Saint Augustine says, “What does love look like? It has hands to help others. It has feet to hasten to the poor and the needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men”. Instead of criticizing the Scribes and the Pharisees, let us analyses our lives for a witnessing Christian living in Christ Jesus our Lord. Love makes the life of the one and the other encountered, happy, easy, simple, comfortable, compatible, colourful, purposeful and meaningful.
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