Reflection
Love of God, Neighbor, and Self…
The month of June is traditionally known for weddings, the beginning of summer in our part of the globe, and for the celebration of Father’s Day. These events call to mind the celebration of life and to a great extent, love.
Today’s Gospel selection recalls that all true love is of God and thus applies to all of life. The scribe questioned Jesus about the first of all the commandments. The question prompted Jesus to share a teaching that continues to challenge and inspire all of us: love God totally, and love your neighbor as you love yourself. Jesus points out that love is all-inclusive; to be a truly loving person one’s love flows from and interacts with others. Fruitful love includes communication, understanding, compromise, forgiveness, and sacrifice – virtues we see in Jesus Himself, and hopefully in ourselves and one another.
Today’s first reading from St. Paul to Timothy helps the message of such fruitful love come alive in the realities of life. Paul has given himself to share the Good News of Jesus — to the point of extensive missionary journeys, lengthy sermons and letters galore, even misunderstandings, persecution and imprisonment. Paul seeks to spark such love and service in Timothy and others, encouraging them to follow his example and remain faithful to sharing the truth of God’s love in the person of Jesus.
Each of us, by our vocation, “preaches” our unique “sermon” on God’s love and our love of others and self.
As we reflect more deeply upon our lives, we can thank God for the gift of our vocation and all that it has entailed thus far.
We look to our faith, our motivation, our gifts and limitations, the hopeful fruitfulness of life and love.
On a very personal note, I today, June 4, thank God for the gift of my Passionist priesthood as I and my ordination class celebrate 50 years of blessed priestly ministry.
With the gift of God’s grace, may Christ-like love continue to grow and prosper within each of us! May our needy world be changed by our whole-hearted love as it flows from Jesus through the lives of each of us. May Jesus speak to each of us as he did to the scribe with whom He was impressed: “…you are not far from the Kingdom of God.” Yes!!
