Texts taken from the “Sulla Tua Parola” Missal September-October 2023

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
2nd week of the Psalter

FIRST READING

From the Book of Exodus (Ex 22:20-26)
Thus says the Lord: “You shall not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. You shall not mistreat any widow or orphan. If you do mistreat them, when they cry out to me for help, I will certainly hear their cry; my anger will flare up, and I will kill you with the sword. Then your wives will be widows and your children orphans. If you lend money to one of my people, to the needy among you, you shall not act toward them as a moneylender: you shall not impose interest on them. If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, you shall return it to him before sunset, because it is his only covering, the cloak for his skin; how else could he sleep covered? Otherwise, when he cries out to me, I will hear him, for I am compassionate.” – The word of God.

Commentary on the First Reading

The laws concerning charity had already been meticulously established by God in the Old Testament. The reason is that love has always fascinated human beings, but it has very often been misunderstood. For this reason, God gives such precise and detailed instructions about how to behave toward others and clarifies what it truly means to love someone. Lending, respecting, and welcoming those most in need are concrete ways of embodying love toward our neighbor. Only when we live with this inner disposition, continually and concretely attentive to the needs of others, do we truly love. Otherwise, we deceive ourselves into thinking we are living a religious life that is actually merely disengagement from the real problems of reality. How many people, even today, view faith as something abstract and inward-looking? God, instead, continually “challenges” us to care for others.

SECOND READING

From the First Letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Thessalonians (1 Thess 1:5c-10)
Brothers and sisters, you know very well how we conducted ourselves among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, receiving the word amid great affliction, with joy from the Holy Spirit, so that you became a model for all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we have no need to say anything. For they themselves report what kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to await from the heavens his Son, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers us from the coming wrath. – The word of God.

Commentary on the Second Reading

In this biblical passage, we can see a concrete application of the commandment of love in one of the first Christian communities. Saint Paul writes to the Thessalonians, letting them understand that, although he has known them only briefly, he appreciates them and carries them fondly in his heart. For this reason, he points to them as a model for all believers in Macedonia and Achaia. That recently founded community certainly has weaknesses and difficulties, but love overcomes everything, renews everything, and conquers everything: the love of those who, aware of their own limitations, docilely follow the words of Christ, the divine Teacher, transmitted through one of his faithful disciples. The lesson we draw from the experience of the Thessalonians, which is shared by every authentic Christian community, is that love for one’s neighbor springs from docile listening to the word of God. It is a love that also accepts harsh trials for the truth of the divine word, and precisely in this way authentic love grows and faith shines in all its splendor. How important, then, it is to listen to the Word and embody it in our personal and community life!

GOSPEL OF THE DAY

From the Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 22:34-40)
At that time, when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law, tested him by asking, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him: “‘You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. The second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.” – The Gospel of the Lord.

Commentary on the Gospel of the Day

Today’s Gospel reminds us that the whole divine law is summed up in love for God and for our neighbor. They are inseparable and complementary; they are two sides of the same coin. We cannot love God without loving our neighbor, nor can we love our neighbor without loving God. Indeed, the visible sign that Christians can show the world and others as a testimony to their love for God is love for their brothers and sisters. The commandment to love God and neighbor is first, not because it stands at the top of the list of commandments, but because it is their center, the heart from which everything must begin and to which everything must return and refer. Now, in the light of this word of Jesus, love is the measure of faith, and faith is the soul of love. Amid the dense forest of precepts and prescriptions - the legalisms of yesterday and today - Jesus opens a breach through which two faces can be glimpsed: the face of the Father and that of our brother or sister, which in the end are one face, the face of God reflected in many faces, because in the face of every brother or sister, especially the smallest, most fragile, defenseless, and needy, the very image of God is present. And when we meet one of these brothers or sisters, we should ask ourselves whether we are able to recognize the face of God in them.