Reflection for Friday 20th Week of Ordinary Time 


By

Fr. Aloysius Santiago sdb
Director, Social Action Movement, Don Bosco Bidar


Today's WORD of GOD 


 Matthew  22: 34 - 40 


 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:  “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 

 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” 

 

Today's Reflection 


Life & Love will Triumph

In Ezekiel, the Hope for Humanity is Proclaimed as the Dead Come Back to Life; & According to JESUS, This is Linked to the Supreme Law of Love. 

Ezekiel Compares the Exiled Israelites to Bones Scattered Over the Plain, Desiccated & Bleached by Long Exposure to Wind & Sunlight. 

The Scene that Follows Convulses with Excitement, “Prophesy over These Dead Bones: I Heard a Noise, Rattling of Bones, Bone Joining Bone; Sinew & Flesh Covering Them; prophecy: O SPIRIT, Breathe into These Slain.” 

The Resurrection was Not Completed when GOD Stretched Sinew, Flesh & Skin over the Knitted Bones but only when the SPIRIT Breathed New Life into Them.

As a Genuine Prophet, Ezekiel Does Not Stop with the External Shape of Things, No Matter how Hopeless They may Seem. The SPIRIT must Stir an Inner Life of Fresh, Faithful Interaction with Neighbour & Friend. He was Not Explicitly Announcing the Resurrection of Every Human Person from the Dead, since His Prophecy Focussed on the Israelites, Alive but Exiled, Seemingly Without Hope of ever Resuming a Happy, Normal Life in Their Promised Land. Those who Died in Exile could Not Share in Ezekiel’s Vision for They would Remain Buried in a Foreign Land. Still, Ezekiel’s Image of Dry Bones for the Nation of Israel, the Starkest Possible Symbol for Their Hopeless Situation as Exiles, Implicitly Contains the Hope of Individual Resurrection. 

In Ezekiel’s Vision, the Wonder of GOD'S Reviving the Nation of Israel Points to the Hope of Personal Resurrection also.

 A Pharisee Asks JESUS this Vital Question, “Which is the Greatest Commandment of the Law?” 

JESUS has No Hesitation in Replying that the Greatest Truth in the Law is the Commandment to Love. 

Love is Not Only the 1st & Greatest but It is also the 2nd Greatest Commandment. 

GOD has the 1st & Greatest Claim on Our Love; only Our Creator is 2b Loved with All Our Feelings, All Our Will, All Our Mind, Our Whole Self. GOD Alone is Worthy of This Total Love, because GOD'S Love has Brought Us into Existence & Sustains Us in Existence. 

Yet, JESUS is Clear that such Love of GOD, if It is Really Genuine, will Overflow into the Love of Our Neighbour, on a Day-To-Day Basis.

Good morning

Have a pleasant day