Readings
I - Deu. 30: 10-14
II - Col. 1: 15-20
III - Lk. 10: 25-37
LOVE GOD IN THE NEIGHBOUR
In the first reading Moses exhorts the people to obey God in the observance of His commandments viz. to love the Lord God with the mind, heart, soul and strength. The people of Israel talked about the law when they sat home, talking while walking along the road, they were reminded when they sat down or got up, had them as symbols on their hands and bound them on their foreheads (Deu. 6: 8). Therefore as Moses says they need not go far off nor beyond the sea to hear his commands.
Jesus is the Word made flesh and as St. Paul says in the second reading, Jesus is the image of the unseen God. Jesus the Son of God adds one more quoting from Leviticus, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself” (Lev. 19:18), the crux of the Ten Commandments: Love of God and Love of Neighbour and marks as methodology to inherit eternal life. Jesus in the Gospel passage of the day explains the lawyer about who is our neighbour. Our neighbour is the one in need of our help. Today we are prone to help only whom we know and do not want to risk ourselves helping others as did the Samaritan in the Gospel. We either concentrate more on clicking ‘selfies’ and making them viral or crave for creating publicity in extending our helping hand. Jesus today exhorts us to love God in our neighbours for inheriting eternal life.
