THE GRACE OF LOVING A NEIGHBOUR


MONDAY, TWENTY SEVENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Jonah 1:1-2:1,11; Jonah 2:3-5,8; Lk 10:25-37

Loving Our Neighbour

The word of God, which expresses the divine will for us, is the greatest treasure we can ever possess. If we possess faith, which is the prerequisite condition for receiving the word, God initiates us on a journey that will take our whole lives. The journey is about gaining a deeper understanding of the Father's will for us. As we individually discern the will of God, He also brings us into the bigger salvation picture, which involves others. The bigger salvation picture and plan is what we refer to as the mystical sense of Jesus Christ. In the mystical sense, all of us come together to constitute the mystical body of Christ. By our conversion and profession of faith in Jesus Christ, we receive his Holy Spirit and become his members. Thus, our lives and activities continue or extend the life and activities of the Son of Man on earth. The two-dimensional salvific plan of God gives birth to the two-dimensional precept of charity; that is, we must love God with all our hearts, minds, and wills, and our neighbours as ourselves. The first is foundational because it leads us to encounter God on a personal level. The encounter with God, and the new spirit engendered in us makes us understand who we really are in God. Enlightened by the Holy Spirit in the loving encounter with God, one is enabled to love oneself properly, and thus, to love one’s neighbour equally.

These two aspects of the precept of charity are so related that if the first is not well established in our lives, the second will not be either. None of us can love our neighbour well who has not loved God properly. Since through our love for our neighbours, we become instruments of God’s love for them, God establishes His love in our souls firmly, so that we can become veritable instruments in His hands for the demonstration of his love to our neighbours. Prophet Jonah’s attempt to escape from doing God’s will shows the imperfection of his love for God. His unwillingness to stress himself for others’ salvation demonstrates this. “The word of the Lord was addressed to Jonah, son of Amittai: ‘Up!’ he said ‘Go to Nineveh, the great city, and inform them that their wickedness has become known to me.’ Jonah decided to run away from the Lord, and to go to Tarshish.” We see that our reluctance to commit ourselves to do the will of God proves our imperfect love for God. In his infinite knowledge of us, God understands the source of our reluctance. He arranges things in such a way as to commence the purification of our love and our dedication to him. In the case of Jonah, forces of nature were unleashed against him on his course to escape God’s will. Recognising that he can never escape the will of God, he repented and asked for God’s pardon and mercy. “Out of my distress I cried to the Lord and he answered me; from the belly of Sheol I cried, and you have heard my voice.”

Our Lord explains that the perfection of these two aspects of the precept of charity ensures our entrance into the kingdom of God. When the lawyer gave a summary of the Commandments as follows: “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself.” Jesus said to him: “You have answered right, do this and life is yours.” In the further illustration our Lord gave to the man on demand, the man who fell into the hands of brigands and was beaten and wounded, was a neighbour to all who came across him. But only the Samaritan proved a good neighbour to him, for he loved him and did to him, what he would have others do to him, if the case were reversed. Our Lord asks us to put this understanding into practice. What we would want others to do for us, if the situation were reversed, we should do for them. If I were the one in need, would I desire the person to help? It is just God’s will that the situation or condition is this way now, that we are at the giving side, and not at the receiving side. Next time, it could be the other way. Giving ensures we would receive from God and others. This is the mystical sense of eternal life, a life where we receive and give as spirits dedicated to God’s holy will.

Let us pray:  Almighty ever-living God, who in the abundance of your kindness surpass the merits and the desires of those who entreat you, pour out your mercy upon us to pardon what conscience dreads and to give what prayer does not dare to ask. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

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