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31st Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)

November 03, 2024

Fr. John Colacino C.PP.S.

Introit

Collect

Almighty and merciful God,
by whose gift your faithful offer you
right and praiseworthy service,
grant, we pray,
that we may hasten without stumbling
to receive the things you have promised.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Reading Dt 6:2-6

Moses spoke to the people: 2 “May you and your children and your children’s children fear the Lord your God all the days of your life, and keep all his decrees and his commandments that I am commanding you, so that your days may be long. 3 “Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe them diligently, so that it may go well with you, and so that you may multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you. 4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. 6 Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart.”

Responsorial Psalm Ps 18:2-3,3-4,47,51

R/. I love you, Lord, my strength.

Second Reading Heb 7:23-28

The priests of the first covenant were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office; 24 but Jesus holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. 25 Consequently he is able for all time to save those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. 26 For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27 Unlike the other high priests, he has no need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for those of the people; this he did once for all when he offered himself. 28 For the law appoints as high priests those who are subject to weakness, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.

Alleluia Jn 14:23

Gospel Mk 12:28b-34

One of the scribes came near and heard the religious authorities disputing with one another, and seeing that Jesus answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; 30 you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31 “The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that ‘he is one, and besides him there is no other’; 33 and ‘to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength,’ and ‘to love one’s neighbour as oneself,’— this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 When Jesus saw that the scribe answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that no one dared to ask Jesus any question.

Catena Nova

Christ looks for nothing else from you, in fact, Scripture says, than loving him with all your heart and carrying out his commands. I mean, obviously the person who loves him in the way he ought to love is also ready to carry out his commands. You see, when one is kindly disposed to another, he takes pains to do everything able to attract the loved one to love for him. So, we too, if we sincerely love the Lord, will manage to discharge his commands and do nothing capable of angering our loved one. This is the kingdom of heaven; this, the enjoyment of goods; this, blessings beyond number, being found worthy to love him sincerely and in the manner he deserves. Our love for him will be genuine if we give evidence of great love for our fellow servants as well as for him (St. John Chrysostom).

This virtue [of charity] consists in nothing else but in loving what is worthy of love; it is prudence to choose this, fortitude to be turned from it by no obstacles, temperance to be enticed by no allurements, justice to be diverted by no pride. Why do we choose what we exclusively love, except that we find nothing better? But this is God, and if we prefer or equate any creature with God, we know nothing about loving ourselves. We are made better by approaching closer to him than whom nothing is better. We go to him not by walking, but by loving. We will have him more present to us in proportion as we are able to purify the love by which we draw near to him, for he is not spread through or confined by corporeal space; he is everywhere present and everywhere wholly present, and we go to him not by the motion of our feet but by our conduct. Conduct is not usually discerned by what one knows but by what one loves; good or bad love makes good or bad conduct (St. Augustine of Hippo).

We become what we love and who we love shapes what we become. If we love things, we become a thing. If we love nothing, we become nothing. Imitation is not a literal mimicking of Christ, rather it means becoming the image of the beloved, an image disclosed through transformation. This means we are to become vessels of God’s compassionate love for others (St. Clare of Assisi).

What is our reason for loving God? God himself is the reason we love him; we love him because he is the supreme and infinite goodness. What is our reason for loving ourselves? Surely because we are the image and likeness of God. And since all men and women possess this same dignity we love them as ourselves, that is, as holy and living images of the Godhead. To have a Christian love for our neighbors is to love God in them, or them in God....So it is then that the same charity produces together acts of the love of God and of our neighbor. As Jacob saw that the same ladder touching heaven and earth was used by the angels both for ascending and descending, so we can be sure that the same charity cherishes both God and our neighbor, raising us even to spiritual union with God, and bringing us back to loving companionship with our neighbors. It must always be understood, however, that we love our neighbors for this reason, that they are made in the image and likeness of God, created to communicate in his goodness, share in his grace, and rejoice in his glory. To have a Christian love for our neighbors is to love God in them, or them in God; it is to cherish God alone for his own sake, and his creatures for love of him. When we look upon our neighbors, created in the image and likeness of God, should we not say to each other: “Look at these people he has made—are they not like their maker?”....This is why divine Love not only repeatedly commands us to love our neighbors, but also itself produces this love and pours it out into our hearts, since they bear its own image and likeness; for just as we are the image of God, so our holy love for one another is the true image of our heavenly love for God (St. Francis de Sales).

Our love for people is a measure of our love for God. But it differs from the natural love for people. Natural love is for one or the other person connected to us by blood ties or by similar character or common interests. The others are "strangers" who are "not our concern", even ugly by their nature, so that they are kept as far away as possible. For the Christians there is no "stranger". He is the "neighbor" whom we have before us and who needs us, whether he is related or not, whether we "like" him or not, whether he is "morally worthy" of help or not. The love of Christ knows no bounds, it never stops, it is not afraid of ugliness and dirt. Christ came for sinners and not for the righteous. And when the love of Christ lives in us, we do as he does and follow the lost sheep (St. Edith Stein; Teresa Benedicta of the Cross).

People are often worried. They are told they ought to love God. They cannot find any such feeling in themselves. What are they to do? The answer is the same as before. Act as if you did. Do not sit trying to manufacture feelings. Ask yourself, ‘If I were sure that I loved God, what would I do?’ When you have found the answer, go and do it (C.S. Lewis).

Nothing is more practical than finding God, than falling in Love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, whom you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in Love, stay in love, and it will decide everything (Fr. Pedro Arrupe, SJ).

Homily

Some months ago I was lamenting the political situation in this country with a friend of mine, a nonagenarian nun — an Adorer of the Blood of Christ — who informed me of her intention to adopt in prayer who, at the time, was the presumed opponent of the incumbent president in the upcoming election. She said, moreover, that she was intentionally planning to "love him" as she prayed. Knowing her sincerity and deep spirituality, inspired by her community's charism of charity toward one's "dear neighbor" following the example of their founder, St. Maria de Mattias, I, by contrast, am more like the scholarly but cantankerous St. Jerome with his pet lion by his side.

Now we Christians have every reason to take the lead in lowering the temperature as the overheated cauldron of political hatred and division threatens to boil over on Tuesday and the days following. If we don’t then our allegiance to the Great Commandment is in danger of becoming little more than lip service. But what in the world might "political charity" look like? Well, that phrase, which might appear at first to be an oxymoron, was used by Pope Francis in his encyclical "on fraternity and social friendship." He described it as follows,

a social awareness that transcends every individualistic mindset: “‘Social charity makes us love the common good’, it makes us effectively seek the good of all people, considered not only as individuals or private persons, but also in the social dimension that unites them”….[It is] a “commanded” love, expressed in those acts of charity that spur people to create more sound institutions, more just regulations, more supportive structures.… It is an act of charity to assist someone…even if we do not know that person, to work to change the social conditions that caused his or her suffering…. This charity, which is the spiritual heart of politics, is always a preferential love shown to those in greatest need; it undergirds everything we do on their behalf….Political charity is also expressed in a spirit of openness to everyone….Viewed in this way, politics is something more noble than posturing, marketing and media spin. These sow nothing but division, conflict and a bleak cynicism incapable of mobilizing people to pursue a common goal. (Fratelli tutti, nos. 182-197 passim)

Which brings me to a "tale of two rallies." Both were held last Sunday — one in St. Peter's Basilica at the closing Mass for the Synod of Bishops, the other in New York City. The contrast could not have been greater. Both had their "warm-up acts." The former's was the final document of the Synod — which the pope has adopted as his own — wherein we read

The synodal way of living relationships is a social witness that responds to the human need to be welcomed and felt recognized within a concrete community. It is a challenge to the growing isolation of people and cultural individualism, which the Church has also often absorbed, and calls us to mutual care, interdependence and co-responsibility for the common good…. The willingness to listen to all, especially the poor, is in stark contrast to a world in which the concentration of power cuts out the poor, the marginalized, the minorities and the land, our common home. (October 26, 2024; no. 42; unofficial translation)

The other rally had a warm-up act who called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage;” then mocked Hispanics for not using birth control, called Jews cheap and Palestinians rock-throwers, and finally a Black man in the audience was addressed by reference to a watermelon. As for the main speaker, the speech was termed a "release of rage" to cap off "a carnival of grievances, misogyny and racism" (New York Times; October 27, 2024).

By the way, I have been waiting in vain for the Archbishop of New York — unlike the Archbishop of San Juan — to say something in defense of the sizable Puerto Rican and Latino membership of his flock. But then there's been a telling silence from the bishops of this country when it comes to issues which affect that constituency perhaps because they are a special target this season and they seem unwilling to rock the political boat.

Fortunately, the main speaker at the rally in Rome —with whom I assume the bishops of this country are still in communion — had this to say in his homily:

It is good if the Synod is urging us as a Church to be… a community of disciples who…, allow ourselves to be awakened by the power of the Gospel…. The Church does this when it takes up the cry of all the women and men of the world, of those who wish to discover the joy of the Gospel, and of those who have turned away; the silent cry of those who are indifferent; the cry of those who suffer, of the poor and marginalized, of children who are enslaved in so many parts of the world for work; the broken voice of those who no longer have the strength to cry out to God, either because they have no voice or because they are in despair. We do not need a sedentary and defeatist Church, but a Church that hears the cry of the world – I wish to say this even if some might be scandalised – a Church that gets its hands dirty in serving…. Whenever we are seated and settled, when as a Church we cannot find the strength, the courage or the boldness…and continue along the way, let us always remember to return to the Lord and his Gospel. We always need to return to the Lord and the Gospel (October 27, 2024).

Oh, and if you think using the term "rally" for the Mass is disrespectful I am the last person to demean the Eucharist. On the contrary I am only pointing out how, like the pope, we are rallied in defense of the Gospel at every Mass, and dismissed from the true "Love Fest" with the rallying cry, "Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord." Who lives and reigns, forever and ever. Amen.

Intercessions (Joe Milner; The Sunday Website)

For the Church: that we may sincerely seek to love both God and others so that the reign of God may draw near.

For continuing conversion of heart: that we may reverence God as the sole center of our life and forsake all idols and allurements that entice us away from God.

For the poor, the sick, and the homebound: that we may generously assist them and offer encouragement and support to them.

For all who are discerning their direction in life: that God will inspire all who are making vocational decisions and give them the courage to follow God's invitation.

For all who are suffering: that God will guide those living in areas of war to safety, open the channels of food for those in famine, and send your healing Spirit to all who have been tortured or abused.

For the gift of peace: that God will inspire dialogue that will reduce arms races and bring an end to conflicts and terrorism.

For all who are grieving: that they may know God’s life-giving presence with them today.

For all who are held unjustly, particularly missionaries: that God will free them, help them to give faithful witness to Christ, and reunite them with their families.

Lord our God, you are the one God and there is no other. Give us grace to hear and heed the great commandment of your kingdom, that we may love you with all our heart and love our neighbour as ourselves. We make our prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen. (ICEL; 1998)

Responsorial Psalm Ps 18:2-3,3-4,47,51

Alleluia Jn 14:23

Gospel Mk 12:28b-34

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