In the seasons in which we have many activities to attend, making
lists of things to do is something
good and even useful, however is not acceptable if we don’t know we are going
in our relationship with our Lord, so
today’s Gospel provides us with an aid to feeling in harmony with God. Jesus recites
the beautiful Shema Israel[1],
a great invitation to love our God with our whole heart, soul, mind and
strength[2].
Many times we feel like we have lost our integrity, our
unity of spirit. There are times that we feel like we are two persons, or even
several persons, like fragmented… When we are in Church we feel the presence of
the Lord within ourselves, then we leave the Church and get into a fight with
someone in the parking lot, or in the car, or in our family, or with a neighbor…
God and our own spirituality call us to be one person,
totally committed to Him in every aspect of our lives. He said that we are to
love him with all our hearts, all minds,
all souls and all our strength.
Why wee feel living two lives or being two different
persons? Well, most of the time this is because they we are in relationships
that destroys our integrity, relationships where God is not found… the point is
that we have to direct our minds to the Lord. Our faith is not a matter of
children’s stories. If we don’t allow our minds to grow with an adult
understanding of our faith, then we lack the tools to integrate our faith with
our lives.
For example, if our understanding of the world is simply the
creation stories of Genesis, then how are we to integrate the advancements of
science with our faith? But if we study our faith, we learn the
depth of our belief; we then understand how the greatest minds the world has
ever produced have been people of profound faith. St. Augustine and St. Thomas
Aquinas were the Albert Eiensteins of their days. Our present Holy Father,
Benedict XVI, Joseph Ratzinger, is one of the great minds of our time, as also
was his predecessor, Blessed Pope John Paul II. We Catholics are not creationists nor do we believe in
intelligent design.
We are to give God our whole bodies, all our strength and
God wants all of our souls. It is
great that we celebrate Mass together. It is great that we receive the
nourishment of the Eucharist. But
our spiritual lives cannot end when we leave the Church. We need to keep the
fire of God’s love burning through prayers in the morning, evening and throughout
the day, even it is simply grace before meals
Shema Israel. We love the Lord in a way that our mind, heart, soul and
body, merge together to form one whole person. That is integrity.
And what about that second commandment Love your neighbor as yourself?[3]
Well, this depends on the way we feel about ourselves. If we are disjointed, if our mind and
heart are at war, then we are going to transfer our dissatisfaction to others, but if we are integral, whole, sincere,
then we will embrace others with the
respect we give to ourselves…
People join all sorts of cults to find peace. They climb
mountains to hear words of wisdom from masters in spirituality... All we need
to know is given to us in today’s Gospel. Peace comes from loving God with
every aspect of our humanity, and then serving His Presence in others…
Jesus Christ has given and continually gives us all we will
ever require. He gives us Himself. He then calls us to make him present for
others. Our prayer this morning is may the peace of Christ within us animate
our lives, and empower us to reach out to Him in others ■
[1] Shema Yisrael (or Sh'ma Yisrael)
(Hebrew: שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל; "Hear, [O] Israel") are the first two
words of a section of the Torah, and are the title (sometimes shortened to
simply "Shema") of a prayer that serves as a centerpiece of the
morning and evening Jewish prayer services. The first verse encapsulates the monotheistic
essence of Judaism: "Hear, O Israel: the LORD is our God, the LORD is
one," found in Deuteronomy 6:4. Observant Jews consider the Shema to be
the most important part of the prayer service in Judaism, and its twice-daily
recitation as a mitzvah (religious commandment). It is traditional for Jews to
say the Shema as their last words, and for parents to teach their children to
say it before they go to sleep at night.
[2] Cf Deuteronomy 6:4.
[3] Lev 19:18.
