Love God and love one another

The  Scripture readings today are familiar to many here at Mass today. They are the most fundamental principle of  Christianity. They are to love God, and Love each Other.  We remind ourselves of their importance at the beginning of every Mass which is said or sung in the Ordinariate Form, in what is called the “Summary of the Law”.  

   These readings for today remind us as well that we are created to love God by loving others, and to love others as an expression of our love for God. Our religious practices, like family prayers,  the Rosary or the Divine Mercy Chaplet, Bible reading, spiritual reading (ie. the lives of the Saints, or the magnum opus of the saints themselves like those left by Saints Dominic, John of the Cross, Thomas Kempis and John Henry Newman), acts of penance, and self-control, are all meant to help us to grow in holiness, and to acknowledge and appreciate the presence of God in our neighbors, while also expressing our love for God by serving our neighbors with love, and sharing our blessings with them. Here is a story I found in a history of Jerusalem (Simon Sebag  Montefiore’s “Jerusalem: the Biography” - a long, but magnificent book, well worth reading)

   Following a great victory, King Cyrus of Persia, (who ruled from 539 BC- 530 BC) took as prisoners a noble prince, his wife, and their children. When they were brought into the leader’s tent to stand before him, Cyrus said to the prince, “What will you give me if I set you free?” He replied, “I will give you half of all that I possess.’ “And what will you give me if I release your children?’ continued Cyrus. “Your majesty, I will give you all that I possess.”

   The king questioned him further, “But what will you give me if I set your wife at liberty?’ Looking at the one he loved so dearly, the prince replied without hesitation, “If you will restore my wife to freedom, I will give you my life.”

   The often cruel, but sometimes merciful Cyrus was so moved by his devotion that he released the entire family without asking recompense.

    That evening the prince said to his wife, “Did you not think Cyrus a very handsome man?” “I did not notice him,’ she answered. “Why, my dear, where were your eyes?’ exclaimed her husband, She replied, “I had eyes only for the one who said he would lay down his life for me.”

   May we all, in our own way, strive to do our best to love God, and each other, with all our hearts, souls, mind and strength.

Faithfully, Your Friend and Pastor,

Fr. Christopher C. Stainbrook