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GOD'S HEART OF LOVEGREAT COMMANDMENT1. In answer to a thoughtful scribe, Jesus said, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." [Mk 12:34] Our Lord’s hope, of course, is intended for the universal Church and all her members. The whole of the law and the prophets are summed up in Jesus’ commandment to love God and neighbor. Search the law and prophets, he taught, to learn that two commandments are first and greatest of all. And so our scripture theme for today is the Great Commandment. From the Gospel of Mark, chapter 12, verses 29-31, we read:
2. Thus we are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and love our neighbor with the same kindness we accord ourselves. Out the outset, we have to admit that the present generation makes fun of a person who “gives his all”. Unless, of course, he’s a packaged product on stage or television. SOCIETY'S HERO3. A person who gives his “all” is reaching for the life of heroes, and people don’t like that. People don’t want a person to give his “all” for the sake of virtue. Giving one’s “all” for the sake of truth makes people nervous. Our society turns away from the man or woman who courageously defends human life—from the unborn to the grace of natural death—a hero. 4. If society’s hero is glamourous and entertaining and a celebrity and on television, that’s okay. If, however, a person is known for heroic virtue, truth, and the defense of human life, that’s not okay. That’s labeled intolerant, exclusive, non-accepting, and not open. Here’s my view: “Giving one’s all” is not a matter of theatrics and entertainment. The true meaning of the word “all” needs to be restored to the lives and vocabulary of Catholics in the United States. WORD OF TRUTH5. We need to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. We need to love our neighbor with all charity. When we say that God is absolute, unchanging and eternal, we’re not just talking about love here, as if God’s truth and holiness can be whatever we want it to be. All of God is absolute, unchanging and eternal. And this includes Divine Revelation—God’s truth and God’s plan of salvation for every human being. God calls us to himself with a word of truth. We cannot call God to us with an opinion. 6. Our lesson for today is called "God's Heart of Love". Where are you going to find it? Are you going to find it in many glamourous so-called worship centers which specialize in providing riveting entertainment for their members? Is one a hero for God by just keeping his weekly appointment with theatrical religion? Who is God’s hero? NOTHING THERE7. There is the “ho-hum” Christian who yawns in the face of God. Then there’s the “has been” Christian who parks on the side of the spiritual road and never reaches his destination. In the face of everything else going on in his life, the luke-warm, “ho-hum” Christian vaccinates himself to keep himself from being infected with meaningful change in his life, real commitment, real devotion to Christ and his Church. His innoculation against a strong and vital faith is called “if…then”. If I finish my work, if I'm not too tired, and if I don't have to fight the kids, then I'll think about it. If I’m not going to the beach, if I don’t have visitors, if I don’t stay out late, if the pastor hasn’t offended me, then I might go. 8. There’s only one rung on the ladder lower than the “ho-hum” Christian, and that’s the “I-used-to-be-a-Christian”. The ex-Christian is the one who waves away the truths of the Christian religion, saying, There is nothing there. What kind of faith are we professing? The politically-correct code words of inclusivity, tolerance, acceptance, and openness? When considered properly as values, these words are helpful. But when they substitute for the truth, these words lead to spiritual and cultural anarchy. WORD OF WORLD9. Who is God’s hero? Certainly such a Christian is not a spiritual mercenary wandering from one Christian community to another. Or a prideful maverick whose spiritual billboard reads: I pray to God in my own way and he answers me. To be sure, both the “ho-hum” Christian and the “has been” Christian speak the same language. It’s called the Word of the World. Neither the lazy Christian or the ex-Christian can be trusted on the subject of faith and morals. They have their own agenda, they’re self-insured, they speak the language of the world, and they’re going to do what they want to do, how they want to do it, and when they want to do it. 10. Why should greater value be placed on the rejuvenation of human limbs, organs and tissues—signs in themselves of the body’s mortality and corruption—than on the spiritual things of eternity? If the men and women of this generation are so in love with material things, why don’t they contemplate the grave? And if they love abstractions and the power of their own human minds, why do they not contemplate what lies beyond death? VERY TENDER11. Often a poor soul will realize the folly of his uncritical and fiery allegiance to the “ego-machine” of the world and the “engine” of consumerism and entertainment. Even a soft or lukewarm embrace of the principalities and powers of darkness [cf. Eph 6:12] puts one in danger of losing his soul. Very tender indeed is the moment of self-awareness when a person admits: You are God, and I am not. 12. When a person realizes that, in the face of God who is all, he is nothing, he has taken the first step to becoming a real human human being. He surrenders to God’s heart of love. Through his tears, he learns who has loved him from the beginning, and whose only-begotten Son is the greatest hero the world has ever seen. CROSSROAD13. When a person finally realizes that his true and lasting interests are not served by the master of this world and his glamorous propaganda, he stands at a crossroad. Which path leads to the truth? Who can man trust to lead him to “the way, and the truth, and the life?” [Jn 14:6] The Christian faith recognizes in these questions the human person's need for the fulfillment of his deepest longings; the echo of Peter's words to Christ is heard in every generation:
14. Pope John Paul II understood that all human beings long to know the truth, and the person of Jesus Christ who is, in his divine personhood, the fulless of truth. In his encyclical Fides et Ratio (“Faith and Reason”) no. 33, he wrote:
STEP FORWARD15. Those who courageously step forward in faith to seek truth and its true origin--a person to whom they might entrust themselves--discover Christ's passion, death and resurrection to be the core event that changed the world. Jesus Christ is the heart of the heavenly father. Jesus loves with integrity. He loves with respect. He loves with the truth. He loves with sacrifice. 16. Divine love from the heart of God is the sole answer for the fulfillment of human hope: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." [Jn 3:16] Seek pardon for your sins. Sanctify your human nature. Approach the one person—our Lord Jesus Christi—who can accomplish all. Kneel in humble submission to the "King of Kings and Lord of Lords". [1Tim 6:15] Cross the threshold of grace and enter the saving mystery of Christ's passion, death and resurrection! WHOLE SPIRIT17. Again the words of scripture—“you shall love the Lord your God” [Deu 6:5]—echo in our ears. The Church invites all human beings everywhere to experience the “all” of new birth and fullness of life in the Spirit. Christ does not ration the Spirit to his Church: "For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for it is not by measure that he gives the Spirit." [Jn 3: 34] 18. Not a portion but the whole Spirit, all the Spirit, is given and received in the sacramental life of the Church. Now the Spirit is the "spring of water welling up to eternal life". [Jn 4:14] The sacred mysteries of baptism, eucharist and reconciliation are ablaze with the fire of Pentecost. DIVINE MERCY19. The heart of God’s love is divine mercy. Through mercy, we have confident assurance to reach out for God's tender embrace on the spiritual road. Mercy is generative, the breath of life by which God lovingly animates and sustains his human creation in every moment of time. Mercy is the face of God and his image and likeness in man. [cf. Gen 1:26] Mercy is the vineyard in which God situates man to bear abundant fruit. 20. Mercy draws human pain and suffering to itself for the healing of nations. Mercy sanctifies love by the gift of the great high priest who offered himself as the lamb of sacrifice once for all time. [cf. Heb 7:26-27] God’s mercy will heal the “ho-hum” and the “has been” Christian. God’s mercy will wake them up. God’s mercy will reveal their hearts. God’s mercy calls them to new life and a new purpose. MERCIFUL HEART21. Mercy shields man from the torment of sin. Mercy rescues him from death by a ransom of seventy times seven. [cf. Mt 18:21-22] The merciful soul pleads pardon for the sins of others for the sake of its own salvation, "for judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy; yet mercy triumphs over judgment". [Jam 2:13; cf. Mt 18:21-22] The merciful soul labors in the spiritual quarry, shouldering the building blocks of prayer, meditation, and intercession for the building up of God’s spiritual house. [cf. 1Pet 2:1-7] 22. The merciful heart prays that the enemies of Christ may be hewn as pillars for the Lord’s holy temple. The merciful heart loves others for the sake of the good that God wills in them. The merciful heart loves God to the full and rejoices in the anticipation of beholding God face to face. The merciful heart loves Divine Love itself. Mercy is the “all” of the great commandment: therefore we are to love God and neighbor by intending mercy, becoming mercy and teaching mercy always and in all ways. CHASTITY23. Chastity is the key that unlocks the good works of mercy, pointing men and women to God and to the things of heaven. Chastity protects the integrity of human personhood. Chastity protects the integrity of the Christian faith. 24. Therefore, a love that is pure leads brother to reconcile with brother, sister with sister, children with parents, and husbands with wives. Mercy and forgiveness, like the light of Bethlehem's star, point to Christ in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass: "...the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; it is also the fount from which all her power flows.” [VATICAN COUNCIL II, Sacrosanctum Concilium, no. 10 (1963).] LIVING LETTER25. St. Paul refers to Christ the Eternal Word when he declares that our loving God created the Church to be a living letter:
26. The Church's sacramental life was established by Christ the Incarnate Word within the all-embracing procession of divine mercy. It was to his visible Church that Jesus entrusted his high-priestly sacramental ministry under the guardianship of the Holy Spirit:
RECONCILIATION27. Christ gave the “keys of the kingdom of heaven” [Mt 16:18-19] to Peter and entrusted him with the ministry of God's love. Under Peter's watchful eye, the sheep are watered and pastured in peace. The ministry of Peter binds the faithful securely to the mercy of Christ and looses them from captivity to sin and death. Peter's name means rock, and Jesus established the ministry of Peter to be the foundation of his love throughout time. 28. Moreover, Jesus enfolds the Petrine ministry within his absolute, unchanging and eternal high priesthood: “You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.” [Psa 110:4] Thus the Barque of Peter possesses a “sure and steadfast anchor” [Heb 6:19]: the “powers of death shall not prevail against it”. [Mt 16:18] This is not mere symbolism but rather the Church's indispensable and irreplaceable mission of reconciliation--not for a moment or an hour, a year or a lifetime, but continuing until the close of the age. [cf. Mt 28:18-20] DISCIPLINE OF CHARITY29. St. Paul appealed to mercy when he wrote, "where sin increased, grace abounded all the more". [Rom 5:20] Mercy makes bearable the otherwise searing experience of one’s self-examination of conscience. Mercy is the believer's confidence before God on the day of judgment. Let every man pray for mercy, then, in the hour of his death. 30. St. Paul wrote, "with my flesh I serve the law of sin". [Rom 7:25] Should the lawlessness of the flesh metastasize to one's intellect and will, he stands in mortal peril. He faces the prospect of an agonizing spiritual death. Chastity is the discipline of charity by which the man of faith governs his mortal flesh. Because human flesh (Gk. sarx) lacks the capacity for self-reflection, the human body is incapable of restraining its voracious appetite for pleasure. SET FREE31. When the flesh is denied the addicting attachment to extravagance, promiscuity and self-love, the body is set free to serve the true and lasting interests of the eternal soul. The community of man is set free to become a Church. And humanity finds its true home in the heart of God’s love. Hence, the man who has conformed himself to the mind of Christ [cf. 1Cor 2:16] may love God with all his heart and soul, with all his mind and strength. [cf. Mk 12:30] 32. The College of the Twelve Apostles with Peter at its head is the enduring sign on earth of God’s merciful love. The magisterium (Lat. teaching authority) of the Church was not established by Christ as a temporary labor pool only to dissolve pathetically and embarrassingly after his ascension to heaven or on the death of the last apostle. MESSAGE ENDURES33. The “living letter” of the Church will never know corruption or death. Its message will never be erased. The Holy Spirit is genuine, therefore, the Church's apostolic sacramental ministry is no less genuine. The “one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church” ["Nicene Creed"] is God’s creation of love. The Church is God’s all. 34. The healing ministry of the Holy Spirit is authentic. So is the Church's historic emphasis on God's generative love, his perfect justice, and his prodigal mercy. Christ who gave his all on the cross of Golgotha expects no less from us. You believe that you will rise from the dead when Christ returns in his glory, and so you cry out, "O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?" [1Cor 15:55] If the Church is to rescue sinners who are as good as dead in their sins, she herself must be free from failure or decay. She cannot ever be lazy. She can never quit. Her truthful message must endure. God’s heart of love will never fail. "CROWN OF BEAUTY"35. Because the Church is betrothed to Christ as his Bride, she herself shares in his immortality and holiness:
36. The "one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church" ["Nicene Creed"] does not exist by her own will or her own power. The Church is not a useless accessory any more than God's magnificent Kingdom is a frivolous add-on. Indeed, the Church is a "crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God" [Isa 62:3] and the most perfect and enduring expression of God’s heart of love.
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