Sunday, July 10
Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
“Turn to the Lord in your need, and you will live.”
Reflection
Today’s message from the Book of Deuteronomy should touch us in a way that perhaps other Sacred Scripture does not. In chapter 30, verses 10-14, Moses reminds us that we may say that we seek and search for the words of God for guidance in how we interact with one another and for the deliverance from sin. In reality, God has already emblazoned in our heart and on our minds his commands. Why would we not recognize this? To understand and carry out the Word of God, we must take Moses’ message to us today to heart.
I occasionally find that when faced with doing something that I know is right I often fail to do the right thing. When I fail to act appropriately, I then look for the excuse as to why. I believe that many people act in this way. We look for an excuse not to know the desires of God because God’s desires may not be our desires. It is only out of recognition of and obedience to the commands of God the Father that we live as we ought. It is sin and the natural human desire to serve one’s own needs, which get in the way of carrying out the desires of God the Father.
Jesus brings this concept forth in today’s Gospel of Luke by addressing the question “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” The answer is “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” The man who asks the question of Jesus knows this is difficult, and therefore goes on to ask “And who is my neighbor?”
Jesus could have answered this question easily by saying “everyone is your neighbor, because they are children of God.”
You can see how sometimes God’s desires do not mesh with our desires and how we can conveniently forget or lie to ourselves and say we do not know God’s desire as to how we treat each other. In reality, it is clear and we must own the fact that God has clearly laid out the Commandments for us, and that we must love our neighbor as ourselves. Any action less that this is sinful.
Peace,
Fr. John Kurgan
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