Thursday the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him,
“Which is the first of all the commandments?”
Jesus replied, “The first is this:
Hear, O Israel!
The Lord our God is Lord alone!
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, with all your mind,
and with all your strength.
The second is this:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these.”
The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher.
You are right in saying,
He is One and there is no other than he.
And to love him with all your heart,
with all your understanding,

with all your strength,
and to love your neighbor as yourself
is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding,
he said to him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.”
And no one dared to ask him any more questions.
Mark 12:28-34

Prayer

Dear Father if only we could answer Jesus this question so easily. Many would understand how close they were to your kingdom. To love you with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength and then to love our neighbor as ourselves, how understanding would dawn within. There is something truly beautiful about loving you with all of our being, it is when we have the second part about loving our neighbor as ourselves that we truly see your love in action. Loving our neighbor as we love you is without judgements. Our thoughts are not on how they look, talk, act but in acceptance of who they are, a person made in your image. People to love unconditionally because you love us this way. May more come to understand and see how loving you and neighbor is more than a blessing but brings us ever closer to your Kingdom. Amen