HOMILY FOR THE 30TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A
THEME: You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, and your mind. And you must love your neighbour as yourself.
Fr Deotacious Chikontwe SMA
READINGS OF THE DAY
Exodus 22:20-26
Psalm 17:2-4,47,51
1 Thessalonians 1:5-10
Matthew 22:34-40
LITURGICAL COLOUR
GREEN
INTRODUCTION
Good morning dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A. Todays Sunday is very special, because in today’s liturgy, we are all reminded of our first and most important obligation as God’s people, that all of us must always be filled with love, both for our Lord God, as well as for our fellow brothers and sisters, our fellow mankind.
ABOUT OUR FIRST READING
In our first reading today, we heard about the words of the Lord to His people through Moses, in which He presented to them everything that He expected of all of them to do in their lives, so that, in all of their ways, actions and in everything they say and do, they would always be exemplary, faithful and committed to God, in obeying His Law and commandments just as He has shown and commanded each and every one of us to do.
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ABOUT OUR SECOND READING
The apostle Paul begins our second reading of today by acknowledging that when him and his companions preached the gospel to the Thessalonians for the first time, some responded to that preaching by breaking with idolatry and becoming servants of the real, living God. It was not easy for them to make this huge shift from idolatry to the real, living God. Paul says in that reading, ‘you took to the gospel in spite of the great opposition all round you’. The question is, whose is the real, living God? It is God of Jesus Christ, the God that Jesus reveals to us through his life, death and resurrection.
ABOUT OUR GOSPEL READING
We have all noticed in our gospel reading of today that, Jesus gave more than he was asked for. He was asked for the greatest commandment, and he gave the greatest and the second greatest commandment, which is, ‘you must love your neighbour as yourself’. In that way, Jesus taught that loving God with our whole being is inseparable from loving our neighbour as ourselves. Loving God with the totality of our heart, soul and mind, will inevitable express itself in loving our neighbour. The implication is that if our devotion to God results in injury or damage or death to our neighbour, the God we claim to love is not the real, living God, but an idol of some kind. Idolatry will always result in destructive human relationships. Jesus kept those two loves distinct, even though he understood they were inseparable, and he always gave priority to our love of God.
CONCLUSION
Loving our neighbour can be very challenging, but, in some ways, it can seem easier than loving God, because our neighbour is visible and God is invisible. How do we love an invisible God? One important way of loving God is by acknowledging God’s presence. We can only love someone whose presence we acknowledge. As Christians, we acknowledge God’s presence in Jesus, God-with-us. Coming together to celebrate the Eucharist is one important way of doing just that. We gather to acknowledge the presence of God-with-us, in Jesus. As we acknowledge that presence at Mass, we surrender to it, in praise, thanksgiving, petition and contrition – in a whole variety of movements of our heart, soul and mind. Outside of the Eucharist, love of God can often be best expressed by my sitting and quietly realizing how God has been a partner in every aspect of my life. We love God by paying attention to the many ways God has gifted us and is gifting us. That in turn will move us to love one another.
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