(Note: Yesterday's Slice should appear with today's. I missed the posting time by a minute, but all should be well today.)
Mk 12: 28-34
The Greatest Commandment
28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[c] There is no commandment greater than these.”
32 “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.
Like the teacher of the Law. we know the two great commandments, but the rub comes with putting them into practice. It's an age-old dilemma and one that will be with us till we breathe our last. Lent is a time to make a special effort to restructure our thinking, our habits, our prayer life, so that we live these commandments a bit better on Easter and beyond than we did prior to Ash Wednesday. God is patient with us, forgives, and replenishes us when we fall short or run out of "fuel" and nudges us forward each day. May we be open to that nudging as well as being as patient with ourselves as he is with us.
Bro. Rene
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