{"id":1479,"date":"2014-10-26T12:55:45","date_gmt":"2014-10-26T16:55:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=1479"},"modified":"2014-10-26T12:55:45","modified_gmt":"2014-10-26T16:55:45","slug":"30th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-a-homily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/30th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-a-homily\/","title":{"rendered":"30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

30th<\/sup> Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A<\/a>
\nExodus 22:20-26
\n1 Thessalonians 1:5c-10
\nMatthew 22:34-40
\nOctober 26, 2014<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As Christians we generally think in terms of ten commandments.\u00a0 God first offers these commandments in chapter 20 of the Book of Exodus.\u00a0 The reality is that God did not stop with ten.\u00a0 If we read beyond chapter 20 we can find what the Jews count as 613 commandments of which the ten we know are the most important.<\/p>\n

Why so many commandments?\u00a0 Sometimes we might feel like our parents or our bosses have too many rules.\u00a0 Does God make too many rules?<\/p>\n

If we look at the commandments, we should see that these commandments are good for us<\/em>.\u00a0 God doesn\u2019t give us commandments for his benefit.\u00a0 It\u2019s for our own good.<\/p>\n

For instance today we hear the instruction not to molest or oppress aliens.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 God reminds they were once aliens in Egypt who resented the way they were treated so they should treat other aliens better.<\/p>\n

God tells them not to wrong any widow or orphans.\u00a0 They are the poor and the vulnerable.\u00a0 They need<\/em> help so hence the commandment to lead us to do good.<\/p>\n

Hopefully we can see that the commandments lead us to do good.<\/p>\n

Paul reminds the Thessalonians how they came to imitate him.\u00a0 Some say imitation is a form of flattery but here the point is not to imitate Paul to offer him praise.<\/p>\n

The reason to imitate Paul is simple.\u00a0 Paul lives as Christ taught so by imitating Paul they are becoming more like Christ.<\/p>\n

So the commandments help us to do what is good and become like Christ.\u00a0 Still, there are so many.\u00a0 Where to begin?<\/p>\n

In Jesus\u2019 time on Earth it was not an uncommon question to ask which commandment is the greatest.\u00a0 With 613 commandments, where is one to start?<\/p>\n

So a scholar puts the question to Jesus.\u00a0 We would suppose the greatest would be from among the Ten Commandments but Jesus\u2019 answer is not listed as such in the Ten.\u00a0 Neither is what Jesus says is the second greatest part of the Ten.\u00a0 Or are they?<\/p>\n

First, they do come from scripture.\u00a0 The commandment to love God is found in Deuteronomy 6:5 and the commandment to love our neighbor is found in Leviticus 19:18.<\/p>\n

Second, these two commandments really summarize the Ten Commandments.\u00a0 Ask yourself what it means to love God.<\/p>\n

The first three of the Ten teach us about loving God; worship no other God, don\u2019t take the Lord\u2019s name in vain, keep the Sabbath.\u00a0 The other seven teach about loving our neighbor; don\u2019t steal, don\u2019t kill, don\u2019t covet another\u2019s property.<\/p>\n

God gives us commandments to guide our actions but if we truly want to be Christian, it is not simply our actions that are important.\u00a0 Our actions are external and visible to the world but what do we act as we do?\u00a0 Is it to make others happy?\u00a0 Is it so we can get into Heaven?\u00a0 Both of these can be admirable goals but should not be the internal reason for our actions.<\/p>\n

What should motivate us on the inside?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s simple \u2013 love<\/em><\/strong>!<\/p>\n

Well, it sounds simple but is it really that simple<\/em> to love?\u00a0 Honestly, people do things that hurt us.\u00a0 The hurt makes it difficult to love.<\/p>\n

And how are we to love someone we have never met?\u00a0 How do we love everyone?<\/p>\n

What first comes to mind when you hear the word \u201clove\u201d?\u00a0 I suspect for many the first thing that comes to mind is the love for our spouse.\u00a0 The rite of marriage speaks of the love of a couple for each other as a sign of God\u2019s love for us.\u00a0 A man and woman express their love for each other in a very particular way.<\/p>\n

Certainly we do not love a stranger like one would love a spouse.<\/p>\n

What about family?\u00a0 We don\u2019t get to pick our family but don\u2019t we think about family differently than a stranger?<\/p>\n

What about friends?\u00a0 What does it mean to call someone our \u201cfriend\u201d?\u00a0 Here is a place we have really slipped.\u00a0 A friend is not defined by who likes you on Facebook.\u00a0 You can\u2019t have several hundred friends<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 Friends are people we confide in because they care about us.<\/p>\n

Care\u2026.<\/p>\n

We care about people we love.\u00a0 God cares about us and we should care about God.\u00a0 It comes in different ways but we can care about everyone.<\/p>\n

Jesus tells us the greatest commandment is love God with all <\/em><\/strong>our heart, soul, and mind.\u00a0 If we are to do this, it means making love part of everything we do.\u00a0 That means loving all we encounter.<\/p>\n

Love comes in different forms but when we love we find what we are created for.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A Exodus 22:20-26 1 Thessalonians 1:5c-10 Matthew 22:34-40 October 26, 2014   As Christians we generally think in terms of ten commandments.\u00a0 God first offers these commandments in chapter 20 of the Book of Exodus.\u00a0 The reality is that God did not stop with ten.\u00a0 If we read beyond …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A – Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-nR","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1479"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1479"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1480,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1479\/revisions\/1480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}