Word to the Wise
Wednesday, November 6, 2013 - Wednesday in the 31th Week in Ordinary Time
[Rom 13:8-10 and Luke 14:25-33]Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, You shall not commit adultery; you shall not kill; you shall not steal; you shall not covet, and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this saying, namely, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.
NOVEMBER 6, 2013 DOMINICAN MARTYRS OF JAPAN [Bl. Alphonsus Navarrete OP and Companions]
St. Paul's words today are a restatement of Jesus' teaching that the greatest commandments of the law are the love of God and neighbor. In an excessively codified moral system, the tendency is to say, "If it isn't expressly prohibited, it is permitted!" St. Paul hits that that tendency when he says, "...and whatever other commandment there may be." Love covers all human life and not just those particular commandments in the Torah or any other legal system.
At the same time, we have to confront the fact that love in our culture has become such an individualized and personalized idea that it has come down to mostly a subjective thing or else intellectualized. I remember the psychological definition I came across in my seminary studies: "Unconditional positive regard for another!" Oh my! Can you imagine saying that to someone: "I have unconditional positive regard for you?"
When the lawyer tried to narrow the focus of love, Jesus responded with the parable of the Good Samaritan. He ended with the words, "Go and do likewise." [Luke 10:29-36] Can we dream of a time when we as a country can make this our way of life? Can we collectively love? Or is the idea too utopian? Jesus did not seem to think that way. Otherwise there could be no church! But, as church, we are not always loving, as Pope Francis has pointed out to us. As long as we have hungry, thirsty, naked, imprisoned, abandoned and oppressed people here and abroad, we have a lot of loving to do! AMEN