Thursday 4 June

Today is Thursday the 4 June, in the Ninth Week of Ordinary Time.  

The monks of the Abbey of Keur Moussa sing: ‘Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.’ As they sing…. I listen. I listen with my whole attention, with my mind and with my heart, so that I may really hear the word of God, and keep it.  

Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Mark.  

Mark 12:28-34 

One of the scribes came near to Jesus and asked him, "Which commandment is the first of all?" Jesus answered, "The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; 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.’  The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these."   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’; 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." When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." After that no one dared to ask him any question.  

How do you respond to Jesus’s description of the first commandment, to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength?  What does that mean to you?

How do you feel as you listen to Jesus’s words?  How do you want to respond to the commandments to love God and neighbour?

As you listen to the reading again, imagine the encounter between this scribe and Jesus.  Notice the attitude of Jesus towards the scribe, how he looks at him, the way he speaks to him, and how Jesus reacts to this man’s wisdom.

Take a few minutes to talk to Jesus about the feelings his words stir in you, and how you want to respond.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end.  Amen.