Thirtieth SUNDAY of ORDINARY TIME -- Year A

First: Ex 22:21-27; Second: 1 Th 1:5-10 Gospel: Mt 22:34-40

THEME of the READINGS

Love for God and neighbor sums up the message of this Thirtieth Sunday. In the First Reading, it is formulated in a negative sense: "You will not ill-treat widows or orphans... If you lend money to any of my people, to anyone poor among you, you will not play the usurer with him... You will not revile God..." The Gospel text provides us with a positive formulation: "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul... You must love your neighbor as yourself." In the first Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians, the same principle is set forth in the negative form (abandon all idols), and in the positive form (follow the example of Christ and of Paul himself, as it is the model to all believers of Macedonia and Achaia).

DOCTrinal MESSAGE

The moral of the covenant. The text of the First Reading is part of the code of Yahweh's covenant with Israel (Ex 20:22-23:19), and sets forth some of the terms of the pact in which God appears as the protector of the marginalized in the society of that time. The terms are contained in the Decalogue: love for God, the first tablet (1st to 3rd commandments), and love for one's neighbor the second (4th to 10th commandments). The legislative texts of the Pentateuch already set forth concrete and special applications of the Decalogue, for example the text of the First Reading. As the centuries went by, many other precepts became part of the tradition of Israel, until they numbered 623, in order to safeguard in the best possible way the observance of the law, down to the slightest details. At Jesus' time, the different groups and schools of Pharisees discussed the possibility of being able to reduce all the precepts to a single one. With Jesus Christ, in whom the New Covenant between God and his new people began (namely the Church), all the precepts were summarized in one, a compendium of the whole divine revelation: You will love God... and you will love your neighbor. Those that do not love God or their neighbor, simply break the morality of the New Covenant.

The fundamental option. All people, when they reach the full age of discernment and decision-making, implicitly or explicitly make a fundamental option for God, for their neighbor, for human and Christian values, etc; or for what is opposite to them. The fundamental option of the individual, and especially of the Christian, cannot be other than the option for love and from love, during his entire life. The fundamental option directs and steers all actions in one's life, it creates a spirit, a style of being and living, it marks one's existence. The fundamental option pours unity into one's being and actions, and it also brings peace. The fundamental option subordinates everything to its object. In other words, for a Christian, it subordinates everything to love in its two-fold nature, divine and fraternal. By its very nature, the fundamental option leaves all other possible options by the wayside, or at least it assigns them a secondary and auxiliary role, at the service of the fundamental option.

The requirements of love. Love, as the fundamental option of the Christian, implies certain requirements. Some are negative: do not revile God, leave your idols, do not turn your attention away from the needy, do not rob your brother through usury. What are the negative requirements in contemporary society, in the social and cultural milieu of your life? The positive requirements are clear: love God with all of your heart, with all of your soul and with all of your mind; love your neighbor as you love yourself.

PASTORal SUGGESTIONS

Give morality a religious basis. In a society in which frequently the basis of morality is democratic consensus or the legislation in force, the moral life of the Christian must spring from his life of faith: a living, integral, operational faith that affects ideas and behaviors, both private and public. Without this foundation, morality staggers and runs the risk of collapsing before the external attacks and inner questions. O Christian! Act, behave like a Christian, according to the Decalogue and the Gospel of Love: the love of benevolence, generous and disinterested love, which only seeks the good of the loved one. O Christian! Your behaviors must stem from your covenant with God in baptism, confirmation, in the sacrament of marriage, under the witness of the Church, which is at once promoter and guarantor of such a covenant.

Option in life for love. Any other option is either wrong or partial. What are the ways today to opt for God's love? The Catechism of the Catholic Church singles out the following, among others: prayer, worship, praise, joyful participation in the Eucharistic Celebration on Sundays and feast days, the habitual and simple exercise of the theological virtues in everyday life. It also adds avoiding superstition, idolatry, magic, any form of irreligiousness and atheism, agnosticism, blasphemy, sacrilege, contempt of the sacraments... And what are the ways in which we can manifest our fundamental option for our neighbor? We also find them in the Catechism. By way of example: piety, obedience and gratitude towards one's parents; the education of children to faith and virtues; cooperating for the good of society in justice, solidarity and freedom; the rejection of voluntary murder, abortion, euthanasia, scandal; the respect of health and the body's integrity, both of one's own and of one's neighbor; the opposition to and rejection of sins against the sixth and ninth commandments: fornication, pornography, prostitution, rape, homosexuality, wantonness, etc.

Source: http://www.clerus.org/clerus/dati/2004-05/21-13/CICLOA.html by P. ANTONIO IZQUIERDO L.C. (1948-2013)

[참고: 이 파일은 저서명 "가톨릭 교회의 말씀 전례에 따른 성경공부 해설서"(엮은이: 소순태, 출판사: 가톨릭출판사)의 각주의 연장으로 마련되었습니다].