Father Nolan's Homily - October 26, 2008

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.”        Matthew 22:36 

The first reading of today’s Mass is taken from the Book of Exodus.  Biblical faith we are reminded is rooted in God’s deliverance of a slave people from political and economic oppression.  God, the reading tells us, is always on the side of the powerless.  He champions the widows and the orphans, the poor and the homeless.  He hears the cry of the oppressed and He sets Himself against the ways of the oppressor. 

In the second reading taken from St. Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians Paul understood that love is caught rather than taught.  We learn how to love by being recipients of love.  The human capacity to love is grounded in God’s love for us.  Children learn the first lesson of love form their parents. 

 In the Gospel when asked by the Pharisees which of the laws of Moses was the greatest Jesus said it was the commandment to love. 

 The topic of Christian love presents special difficulties for a Sunday sermon.  The congregation is confident that it has heard it all before and the Priest may often wonder how he can avoid saying the things the congregation is conditioned to expect him to say.  Of course we have all heard it before.  But there is a lifetimes work involved in gaining a genuine understanding of love.   

We were made to love and be loved.  In that fact lies our glory and our tragedy.  Love makes us vulnerable and so we often hold back from loving lest we be hurt.  We are often afraid that our love will meet with ingratitude or misunderstanding.  But we must love and leave ourselves vulnerable because we love Christ.  He says to us “love one another as I have loved you.”  He is our model.  He is our standard.  

Sometimes we look disdainfully at the command to love.  It reminds me of the husband and wife who decided they needed a watchdog.  So she sent her husband out to the pet store to make a purchase.  “I want a watch dog” he told the storekeeper.  I have just the dog for you and produced a tiny little poodle.  You don’t seem to understand.  “My wife and I want a real watch dog to protect us at night.  Ours is a dangerous neighborhood.”  The storekeeper persisted “This is just the animal for you – this poodle knows karate!”  I’ll show you.  He took a great big thick plank and said to the poodle “Karate that plank!”  Then the little poodle cracked down his little paw on the plank and broke it in two.  Let me demonstrate further.  He produced a large concrete block and immediately the dog broke the cement block in two.  Now the man really was impressed.  “I’ll buy it” he told the storekeeper.  When he arrived home with the dog his wife was incredulous.  “I sent you out to buy a watch dog and you come home with this miserable thing.”  But the husband replied “you don’t understand.  This dog knows karate.  With utter cynicism the wife replied “Karate my foot” with disastrous consequences.  Sometimes we say “love my neighbor my foot” with equally disastrous consequences.  If we become skeptical or cynical about Jesus’ command to love one another we have lost our way to God.  For Jesus tells us that all of the commandments are summed up in these words “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and strength and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 

Unfortunately love has been reduced today to a sort of saccharin liberalism – be sweet, be kind, don’t make waves.  Everything is done or excused today in the name of love whether it’s robbing a bank or stealing another man’s wife – all is excused in the name of love.   

If we are to understand what Jesus means by love we must be steeped in biblical tradition.  First we must remember that love is NOT an emotion otherwise we could not love our enemies as Jesus taught us to do.  Love is not a feeling rather love is an act of will.  We do things for others because we want to help them as Jesus directed us to do not because we have a good feeling about them.  We might even feel anger and repulsion for some people who have injured or hurt us or even someone of our family.  Jesus taught us to love even our enemies, to reach out and help when they are in distress.   

Jesus commands us to love as He has loved.  Throughout His ministry He demonstrated God’s love for people and for all creation.  It was all inclusive – He left nobody out.  He healed the sick, He cured the emotionally disturbed, He comforted the sorrowing.  He befriended sinners and the outcasts.  He took part in dinners and celebrations where many Jews would not go or attend.  He was compassionate, forgiving, gentle.   He taught with words of wisdom and encouragement.  He was a man for all seasons.  He finally offered His life nailed to a cross for the salvation of all.  Jesus not only taught about love, He lived it.  He demonstrated it in his own life.  And He has equipped each of us with the capability, power and desire to love.  All of God’s commandments comes down to the great commandment of love that commandment of which Jesus Himself is the first model.   

St. Paul in his famous letter to the Corinthians describes love in these words.  Love is patient, love is kind.  It is never jealous.  Love is never boastful or conceited.  It is never rude or selfish.  Love does not take offense and it is not resentful.  It is always ready to excuse, to trust and to hope.  I think the most important practical aspect of love for all of us is to forgive whatever wrong has been done to us.  So many people hold grudges and that is more harmful to them than the person who offended them.  Let go of hurts and grudges.  That is the easy way to Heaven taught us by Jesus Himself when He taught us to pray “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”

You remember how Pope John Paul went to visit the man who tried to assassinate him.  He prayed for him and he forgave him.  It’s a tremendous example to all of us.   

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen.