Contemplating today's Gospel
Today's Gospel + homily (in 300 words)
She then made ready to go back from the plateau of Moab because word reached her there that the Lord had visited his people and given them food. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye, but Ruth stayed with her. Naomi said, «See now! Your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her god. Go back after your sister-in-law!». But Ruth said, «Do not ask me to abandon or forsake you! For wherever you go, I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge, your people shall be my people, and your God my God». Thus it was that Naomi returned with the Moabite daughter-in-law, Ruth, who accompanied her back from the plateau of Moab. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
The Lord keeps faith forever, secures justice for the oppressed, gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets captives free.
The lord gives sight to the blind. The Lord raises up those who were bowed down; the Lord loves the just. The Lord protects strangers.
The fatherless and the widow he sustains, but the way of the wicked he thwarts. The Lord shall reign forever; your God, o Zion, through all generations.
“You shall love the Lord, your God... You shall love your neighbor as yourself”
Fr. Pere CALMELL i Turet (Barcelona, Spain)Today, a teacher of the law asks Jesus “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” (Mt 22:36), the most important one is the first commandment. The answer, however, speaks of a first commandment and of a second commandment. Two inseparable rings, which are the very same thing. Inseparable, but a first one and a second one, a golden one and a silver one. The Lord takes us to the depths of Christian catechesis, because “The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments” (Mt 22:40).
This could explain the classic commentary of the two woods of the Lord's Cross: the upright beam stuck in the soil is the verticality, looking at heaven towards God. The crossbar represents the horizontality, the relations with our fellowmen. In this image there is also a first and a second. The horizontal beam would be at ground level if we did not have the vertical beam. So the more we desire to raise the level of our service to others horizontally, the taller our love for God must go. Otherwise, dejection, fickleness, demanding compensations of any kind, will get easily hold of us. St. John of the Cross says: “The more a soul loves, the more perfect it is in its love, and hence it follows that the soul which is already perfect is, if we may say so, all love, all its actions are love, all its energies and strength are occupied in love.”
The saints we know allow us to see how, in fact, their love for God is expressed in many different ways, and gives them a great amount of initiative when it comes to helping their fellowmen. Today, let us ask the Mother of God to fill us with the desire of surprising Our Lord with deeds and words of affection. Thus, our heart will be able to find a way to surprise those who live and work next to us, with some nice little detail; and not only on special days of festivity. For everyone knows how to do this. Surprise others! A practical way to think less about ourselves.
Thoughts on Today's Gospel
“You want me to tell you why and in what measure God is to be loved. I reply, the reason for loving God is God himself, and the measure, is to love without measure” (Bernard of Clairvaux)
"Nothing should come before the service of God. Such "submission" to God is not destructive of the creature. The creation is configured in such a way that it invites this adoration. The rhythm of our life only vibrates correctly if it is imbued with this force" (Benedict XVI)
“... The worship of the one God sets man free from turning in on himself, from the slavery of sin and the idolatry of the world.” (Catechism Of The Catholic Church, Nº 2097)
September 8th
Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
Gospel and commentary video
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