SO CLOSE AND YET SO FAR

READINGS: THIRTY FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

In the gospel reading of this 31st Sunday in ordinary times (Mark 12:28b-34), Christ, after listening to a Pharisee’s reasoning about what Scriptures says about the commandments, told him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of Heaven”. The problem though, is that not being far from the kingdom of heaven is not the same thing as being in it. What we need is to be inside the kingdom, not close to it. We can know all about God and yet not know God. To know God is to have a personal relationship with Him and to have a personal relationship with Him, we need to love Him the way He wants to be loved—with all four aspects of our humanity—our heart (emotions), our soul (psych), our mind (intellect), and our strength (ability, physicality).

To love God with all our heart means that God wants an emotional commitment in our love for Him; to be excited, rejoice, and be gladdened by the things that concern Him; an expressive love, full of appetite and a desire to spend time with Him in prayer, adoration, worship, and praise.

Such emotional commitment, Christ says, needs to be complimented by a psychological commitment—loving Him “with all your soul. God wants our love for Him to govern how we see ourselves, others, and the world; how we interpret events in our lives, and how we see his presence in all of creation. God wants to make our relationship with Him an “All or Nothing Affair”. Scripture tells us that God detests a soul that is lukewarm toward Him.

To be this committed to God, who ought to be clear as to “Who” God is, otherwise, our love for Him will not be real. Therefore, Christ says, “you must love God with all your mind”—mental commitment. My friends, “Mental commitment” involves (a) believing that God is God alone, and He is the God of creation (for if God is not the God of creation, then He has no power over principalities, dominions, authorities, and powers of darkness in the heavenly places, in which case, we are doomed); (b) believing that God is faithful, for Scripture says, “Faithful is the one that calls you, who will also do it” (If God is not faithful to His promises, we worship and serve Him in vain and our faith is useless); (c) believing that God has a plan for my life and that He will see me through it, if I put my trust in Him, for scripture says, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future full of hope” (for if God has no plans for my life, I am, then, merely, a product of chance); and (d) believing that there is final judgment and a hereafter to which we are accountable (for if there is no hereafter, we have all labored in vain).

Knowing who God is” invites us to a commitment of the will—to “love Him with all your strength”, for Scripture says, “My faithful one shall live by faith alone and if he draws back, I have no pleasure in him”. Many a time, life situations can conspire to take our eyes off from God. To love God with all our strength is to love God with every fiber in us; to love Him in very practical ways; to deploy our time, talent, and treasure in the service of His kingdom; to become a distributive agent of His graces to humanity. May the good Lord grant us the grace to love Him as He wants to be loved, Amen!