DAILY- HOMILY

November 4, 2018 – 31st SUNDAY in Ordinary Time

Cycle B. Green.

Dt 6: 2-6 / Heb 7 : 23- 28 / Mk 12: 28b -34

FROM THE 1ST READING:             Dt 6: 2- 3

Fear Yahweh, observe his commandments all the days of your life and his norms that I teach you today. So also for your children and your children's children that they may live long.

Listen, then, Israel, observe these commandments and put them into practice. If you do this, you will be well and you will multiply in this land flowing with milk and honey, as Yahweh, the God of our fathers, promised you..

GOSPEL READING:           Mk 12: 28b- 34

A teacher of he Law had been listening to this discussion and admired how Jesus answered them. So he came up and asked him, "Which commandment is the first of all?"

Jesus answered, " The first is: Hear; Israel! The Lord, our God, is One Lord; and you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. And after this comes another one: You shall love you neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these two."

The teacher of the Law said to him, "Well spoken, Master: you are right when you say that he is one and there is no other. To love him with all our heart, with all our understanding and with all our strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves is more important than any burnt offering or sacrifice."

Jesus approved this answer and said, "You are not far from the kingdom of

God." But after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions.

REFLECTION

"The most important of all Jewish prayers, "Shema Israel Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad" are the first words of the Jewish prayer known as "Shema Israel." It is a declaration of faith and a pledge of allegiance to God. Twice daily, recitation of the Shema Israel is a mitzvah for the Jewish people. It is said upon rising in the morning and before going to sleep at night. It is said when praising God and beseeching him.. The Shema Israel is the first prayer taught to Jewish children and the last words a Jew says before death. It is a prayer of praise to God and a prayer of beseeching as well. The Shema Israel is recited in preparation for the reading of the Torah on the sabbath and Jewish holydays and at the end of the holiest day, Yom Kippur. [In the Shema Israel, God's name is not read aloud but is replaced by Adonai]"

As Christians we look back with faith and gratitude at the history of God's dealings with his chosen people Israel. God and Israel were bound by a covenant, "You will be my people and I will be your God."

God made his first covenant with Israel and his second covenant with us through the offering of his only begotten Son, Jesus, our High Priest.

Asked which is the first of all commandments, Jesus reverently recited the Shema Israel. The Shema Israel carried the history of Israel and the people's dealings and covenant with the Lord Yahweh. We see God's particular and special choice of an insignificant people to prepare for his great intervention in human history in the sending of his only Son to become man. We see God's great love for Israel because Israel was his.

The only fitting response to God's love for us is to love him back, to give our all to him. This may sound demanding and we may fear to give all. What is truly amazing is that we can only love him in return because he loved us first and it is he who sustains our love for him.

Let us be mindful of God's presence in us and among us all the days of our life. Let us be grateful for his love and delight for us, his beloved children.

Have a good day!

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