Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

How Do We Express Our Love for God and Neighbor?

Love for God and love for our neighbor are inseparable and complementary—just like the pairs of shoes we wear! You can’t have one without the other! Jesus refers to this as the greatest and first commandment. He also adds, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”

Just how is it that we express our love for God? Our love for neighbor? The lyrics of a song by Sister Kathy Sherman provide a musical reflection on just those questions. You can listen here:

Because We Love God from SSpS Australia-Fiji on Vimeo.

You can also find a prayer experience based on this song here: http://mercyassociationleadershipnetwork.blogspot.com/.

What does love of God and love of neighbor look like at St. Francis of Assisi? With which reasons for loving God do you/we most identify? For me, the experience of traveling to Haiti to drill a well that would provide water for the community is just that sort of inseparability of love of God and love of neighbor. For many of you, the same is true of Mobile Loaves and Fishes. Love of God impels us to both make sandwiches and to meet our neighbors who hunger for connectedness.

Our stretching most likely involves encountering the alien, the stranger, and persons who are not yet our friends. It involves all acts of mercy and compassion. That’s loving God with our whole heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind. May our feet walk the talk! We know the rules of the road—the journey that is ours as disciples.