30th SUNDAY OF THE YEAR –
In today’s extract from Matthew’s Gospel Jesus reduces the 613 regulations of the Old Law to just two basic commandments: Love God and love your neighbour. The two are closely intertwined and Victor Hugo expressed this truth quite beautifully at the end of his classic work ‘Les Miserables’: ‘To love another person is to see the face of God’. American author Kyle Idleman annunciates the same truth from the other end of the spectrum by saying ‘we love others best when we love God most’. It begins with God. All we have and are comes from Him and awareness of that fact is the wellspring from which love of self and neighbour flow. If we accept that God has fashioned man and woman in His own image then all people are loveable. What then does love of neighbour look like? The answer lies close to home! The wonderful Musical ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ contains a memorable and touching scene where the husband Tevye asks his wife Golde, ‘do you love me’? Her reply is powerful in its’ simplicity: ‘for twenty five years I’ve washed your clothes, cooked your meals, cleaned your house, given you children, milked the cow… If that’s not love, what is’? Indeed!
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