Texts taken from the Missalette “On Your Word” November-December 2024

31st Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
3rd week of the psalter

FIRST READING

From the Book of Deuteronomy (Dt 6:2-6)
Moses spoke to the people, saying: «Fear the Lord, your God, by observing all his statutes and commandments that I enjoin on you, you and your children and your children's children, all the days of your life, so that you may have a long life. Hear then, Israel, and be careful to observe them, that you may grow and prosper the more, in a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you. Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone! Therefore, you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today». – The word of the Lord. 

Commentary on the first reading

Love for God is given to Israel as a commandment. But can love be commanded? Is its nature not precisely rooted in complete and mutual freedom? Can I approach someone and order them to love me? Absolutely not. Thus, God is free in his self-gift, and we are free to respond to him or not. But since we are like eternal children, fickle and sometimes capricious, the Lord, like a good father, sets us on the right path. He tells us that our happiness, the meaning of everything, the true good in all things, consists in love for him, and for this reason he insists with language that is benevolent, yet firm. Love itself will be put to the test, in the sense that if we obey this command, we will understand for ourselves how it is better to live in his friendship and under his protection rather than isolated and tossed about by a world that, if it denies God, is empty and meaningless. He asks us to take the first step, the initial act of faith. He tells us: love me, welcome my divine presence, and you will see. Set love in motion, and love will blossom.

SECOND READING

From the Letter to the Hebrews (Heb 7:23-28)
Brothers and sisters, [under the former covenant] there were many priests, because death prevented them from remaining in office, but Jesus, because he remains forever, has a priesthood that does not pass away. Therefore, he is always able to save those who approach God through him, since he lives forever to make intercession for them. It was fitting that we should have such a high priest: holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, higher than the heavens. He has no need, as did the high priests, to offer sacrifice day after day, first for his own sins and then for those of the people; he did that once for all when he offered himself. The law appoints as high priests men subject to weakness, but the word of the oath, which was taken after the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever. – The word of the Lord. 

Commentary on the second reading

God lives outside time and space, in a dimension that is still unknown to us. Everything is present to him; he is not limited by the narrow confines of space-time dimensions. For this reason, the Letter to the Hebrews tells us that Jesus is always alive and always intercedes for us; this means that at this very moment he is thinking of us, presenting us to the Father as the fruit of his passion, and continually pleading for us to receive forgiveness of sins. If we too try to draw close to this image of Christ the High Priest, then we can immerse ourselves in the present reality of his redemptive act. Kierkegaard writes: «We human beings think that Adam’s fall is something very, very long ago and forgotten; now we are good people. But for God, Adam’s fall happened today». Living this contemporaneity helps us to see the presence of Jesus the High Priest in the things we do; in realizing such greatness, our soul is filled with wonder and gratitude.

GOSPEL OF THE DAY

From the Gospel according to Mark (Mk 12:28b-34)
At that time, one of the scribes approached Jesus and asked him: «Which is the first of all the commandments?». Jesus replied: «The first is: “Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength”. The second is this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”. There is no other commandment greater than these». The scribe said to him: «Well said, Teacher, and truly so, that he is One and there is no other besides him; and to love him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices». And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him: «You are not far from the kingdom of God». And no one dared to ask him any more questions. – The Gospel of the Lord.

Commentary on the Gospel of the day

The scribe asks Jesus which is the first of the commandments, and he answers him with the commandment of love. God is love and, therefore, there is only one love with two faces: love directed toward God on the one hand, and love directed toward one's neighbor on the other. Those who love feel an irrepressible need to seek the good of the other and shape their entire existence around this desire. There is nothing we can do about it: we are made for love, and if we do not love, we condemn ourselves to loneliness. Yet there remains a priority: first comes love of God, then, as a consequence, love of one's neighbor, because the strength that makes us capable of loving comes precisely from God. It is interesting to note Jesus’ final expression: he does not tell the scribe that he has come to possess the kingdom of God, but that he is not far from it. Being close to the destination does not mean having reached it. Therefore, it is not enough to know; we must put it into practice. As if to say: «You have received the answer, you know the way, now walk. It is up to you; you are headed in the right direction, but you still have the final stretch to cover». So it is for us today as well: we have everything, but the final fulfillment is still to be attained. Courage, and keep moving forward.