Sunday 30th (A) in Ordinary Time
«You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart (…). You shall love your neighbor as yourself»
Fr. Johannes VILAR (Köln, Germany)
Today, the Church reminds us of our “attitude before life” («The whole Law and the Prophets are founded on these two commandments»: Mt 22:40). St. Matthew and St. Mark put these words upon Jesus Christ's lips, St. Luke ascribes them to a Pharisee. But, as a dialogue, always. Several times, Jesus Christ would be asked, probably, similar questions. Jesus Christ replies with the beginning of the Shema: prayer formed by two verses from the Deuteronomy and one from the Numbers, which fervent Jews had to say at least twice a day: «Hear O Israel! The Eternal, our God (...)». By reciting it during their daily chores, they become God conscious, while remembering the most important thing in their lives: To love God, our Lord, above “everything and everyone” and our neighbor as ourselves. Afterwards, when the Last Supper is over, and with the example of the washing of the feet, Jesus Christ gives us a “new commandment”: to love each other as He loves us, with “divine strength” (cf. Jn 14:34-35).
We need decision to practice “de facto” this sweet commandment —which more than a commandment is elation and capacity— in dealing with others: men and things, work and leisure, spirit and matter, because they all are God's creatures.
On the other hand, by being infused with God's Love, that overfills all our being, we are able to respond to “the divine contents” of this Love. Merciful God, who not only takes away the sin of the world! (cf. Jn 1:29), but who divinizes us and makes us “participants” (only Jesus Christ is the Son of God by Nature) of the Divine Nature; the Holy Spirit bears testimony to our human spirit that we are children of God through the Son. St. Josemaria Escriva liked to speak of “deification”, word with a certain tradition amongst the Fathers of the Church. For Instance, St. Basil the Great wrote: «As clear, transparent substances become very bright when sunlight falls on them and shine with a new radiance, so also souls in whom the Spirit dwells, and who are enlightened by the Spirit, become spiritual themselves and a source of grace for others (…) and we enter into eternal happiness and abide in God. Through the Spirit we acquire a likeness to God; indeed, we attain what is beyond our most sublime aspirations: we become God». Let us truly hope so!