Daily Gospel Reflection
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August 20, 2021
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees,
they gathered together, and one of them,
a scholar of the law, tested him by asking,
“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”
He said to him,
“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart,
with all your soul, and with all your mind.
This is the greatest and the first commandment.
The second is like it:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
There’s a verse from Psalm 119 that has always been a bit of a challenge for me. “How I love your law, Lord! I study it all day long.” To be fair, I know a few lawyers who seem to take a little too much delight in chasing down legal footnotes and citations and truly do seem to love the law. But for most of us, the law, human or divine, gets read as a set of “thou shalt nots” and black-and-white consequences. How can we learn to love something that’s telling us no all the time?
Today’s gospel challenges us to read the law as a positive vision for how we should live rather than simply a set of edicts and punishments. By placing the command to love God with our whole being as the first and most important commandment, it helps order the rest of our life. When discerning a career choice, finding a spouse, facing a challenge at work, or just making any of the small decisions that crop up, asking, “Which of these options will help me love God more fully?” can be freeing, not constraining.
Certainly many of the daily decisions we make may be amoral. But even the invitations we do or don’t extend to lunch, the conversations we take part in or avoid, or the types of music we choose to listen to can habituate our hearts to make certain choices. Putting the greatest commandment first frees us up to see God in the other and to see the law as not just a source of stability but as the eminently lovable north star guiding our steps homeward.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, you sent your Son into the world, not to upend the law, but to fulfill it. We rejoice in the knowledge that above all else you have commanded us to love. Thank you, Lord, for the kindness and wisdom of this law. May we spend our lives focused on these two great commandments. Come Holy Spirit, help us to love.
Saint of the Day
St. Bernard of Clairvaux had words sweet as honey, and he used them to reinvigorate monasteries where men and women gave their lives to God in prayer.
He was born in 1090 in France and excelled in his education as a child. As a youth, he was well-loved by many—he was witty, attractive, and the depth of his character shone. Gradually, the idea formed in his mind that he was to leave the world for life as a monk. A community of monks had recently formed a monastery nearby and lived a strict life together. Bernard wondered if he might be called to join them.
One day, filled with anxiety about this decision, he went into a church and prayed that God would direct him to discover and follow God’s will. He received the firm resolution to enter the monastery. His many friends tried to dissuade him, but in conversations with him, they suddenly discovered a desire to join him in giving their lives to prayer—even those who had never considered religious life before. Because of his influence, 31 men in all followed him into the monastery. His eloquent appeals were irresistible.
Bernard entered the monastery wanting to disappear and be forgotten so as to only attend to God. After a few years, the abbot, seeing his extraordinary abilities, asked him to found another monastery with a dozen other monks. His holiness and witness encouraged others to join, and soon 130 lived in the monastery in a valley that came to be known as Clairvaux.
Healings and miracles began to be ascribed to him, including the restoration of the power of speech to a converted nobleman who was dying so that he could properly confess his sins. Bernard was sought after for his wisdom—princes and popes asked for his counsel in their affairs, and he struggled to meet the needs of those around him and still maintain a healthy prayer life, which he most desired. He never refused a challenge.
He was known for his preaching, especially his commentary on the Song of Songs. Bernard’s Clairvaux community spawned many more monasteries—nearly 70— ranging as far as Ireland.
Bernard died in 1153 and has been declared a doctor of the Church, a title given to 37 saints who are known for elucidating the faith by their words or example. St. Bernard was given the title Doctor Mellifluus—the “honey-sweet doctor”—for his eloquence. He is the patron saint of beekeepers and candlemakers and is depicted in stained glass in the Dillon Hall chapel (top image). His relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica.
St. Bernard, the honey-sweet doctor, you convinced 31 of your friends to enter the monastery with you—pray for us!