Posted on October 31, 2024 View all Gospel Reflection
For all the saints…
Today and this past weekend we celebrated All Saints Day, All Souls Day and of course today the Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary time. In the Gospel for this Sunday the scribes came to Jesus asking him “Which is the first of all the commandments?” (Mk. 12:28b) At first it might seem like a good question to ask so that you can prioritize what you follow. But really, they were looking to stir up controversy with Jesus and then show how he “clearly” was not the prophet or good teacher that others claimed him to be.
Jesus’ response was one of simplicity and clarity. He said: “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.” Then he added: “The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mk. 12:29-31a) Jesus quotes from the Book of Deuteronomy (Dt. 6:4-5) which we heard in the first reading and Leviticus (Lv. 19:18). By grounding his response in the words of the sacred scriptures, Jesus showed how what he was teaching was in fact the fulfillment and fullest expression of a life lived in communion with the Lord. And when the scribe responded in the affirmative that Jesus had spoken well, no one dared to ask him any more questions. They were left speechless.
But I would say that they were left speechless because they were not interested in living the commandments in the fullest as had just been explained. They were more interested in how the commandments could be re-interpreted so that their positions of honor and their prestige amongst the people of Israel might be preserved or expanded. Jesus on the other hand is looking to call all people not to seek glory for themselves, but rather to seek the glory of God.
When we reflect on the lives of all the saints who have gone before us, we can see their lives marked with the sign of faith and humble service to God through others. None of the saints are recognized because they were rich, famous or popular. They are recognized because of how they lived to serve Christ. Then, secondly, they became popularly known because they inspire many of us to follow Christ in the same manner.
But when we look at All Souls Day, we see even more closely the lives of those who lived in humble service and are less widely known. I would say that those we recognize as saints in heaven are especially happy to honor those who lived lives of holiness and yet did not get the honor of canonization. They might actually say that those are the saints who deserve more honor, since they lived in that simple anonymous humility for Christ without seeking reward or recognition for their efforts. Let our actions be our words so that we are not speechless, but rather that the actions we live embody the love we have for God.
As we move into November, let us be thankful for how Christ came to save us by offering himself for our sinfulness and then let us ask him to give us the grace to more humbly love God with our whole heart, mind and soul, and to love our neighbor as ourselves in the same way that Christ has loved us.
