St. Dominic Catholic Church

Homilies

10/29/2017 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Do I love God? This question has been on my mind for more than a week as I was confronted by this Gospel. Jesus says the most important commandment is to love God with all my heart, mind and soul. In other words, with everything I am, my whole being. How can you and I love God that way, especially when we get distracted by entertainment, worry, running a household and work?

Maybe a first question is why should I love God? The first letter of John puts it simply, “because he first loved us.” (1Jn 4:19) That first love gets everything started.  It is expressed in our existence. God created you and me, and endowed each of us with an immortal soul meant for union with Him. God’s love is demonstrated in the Incarnation, when He humbly joins our human condition. It is manifested in his death on the cross that reconciles us to himself. St. Paul says, “God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” (Rom 5:8) That letter of John I quoted continues, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates his brother or sister, he is a liar; for whoever does not love someone he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.” (I John 4:19-20) In the Gospel of John during the Last Supper, Jesus gives his final teaching – a kind of last will and testament, and in chapter 14 he says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (Jn 14:15) He repeats this command two more times in the following verses. In chapter 15 he summarizes his commandments into one, “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (Jn 15:12-13)

In the same way in our Gospel today, Jesus shows us how we are to love the unseen God by linking the commandment to love God with a second commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The reason I should love you is the same reason I should love myself: because God loves us. This love is the desire for the true good of another. It is a love that transcends emotions and feelings. It’s more than friendship or family ties; it is an act of will – a choice.

How do we love God by loving each other, then? There are countless ways, but the most significant ways cost us something. Our first reading says not to take advantage of the poor and powerless. But love goes beyond that. The corporal works of mercy are ways of loving that require us to lay aside our own wants and desires to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, shelter the homeless, visit the sick and imprisoned, bury the dead and give alms to the poor. These works of mercy are derived from Jesus’ description of the last judgment in which he says, “whatever you did for one of these least brothers or sisters of mine, you did for me.” (Mt 25:40) They address the physical needs of others, but there are ways of loving that attend to their spiritual needs. These ways of loving include counseling those who are doubting their faith, instructing those who are ignorant about God, correcting (not judging) the sinner, comforting the sorrowful, forgiving injuries, bearing wrongs with patience, and praying for the living and the dead.

Parents, how well do you love your children? Many of our parishioners are immigrants from the Philippines, Mexico and Latin America. The first generation came here to provide a better life for their children and worked – or are working – hard, and making lots of sacrifices. You want your children to have opportunities for education, meaningful jobs, nice homes and cars. But Jesus says in the Gospel of Mark, “What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?” (Mk 8:36) Does it make sense to provide a good life for your children if they abandon their faith as adults? In this country, the focus is not on spiritual, but physical well-being. America is increasingly secular: only 47% of Californians say religion is very important in their lives, and less than 1/3 attend church each week. The numbers are even lower among young adults and adolescents. This is the environment in which your children live.

This brings me back to my original question, “Do I love God?” As your pastor and as a Dominican, the strongest “yes” I can make is rooted in engaging my heart, mind and soul in evangelization, in helping you and your children have a living and vibrant faith. I don’t know how to do this well, so my love for God is imperfect. But all the things we do at St. Dominic’s are pointless unless each one of us hears the invitation to become disciples of Jesus, knows what it means to say, “yes,” and is encouraged to give our lives to him. This may not be the way you want to be loved, and frankly my life would be easier if I left you alone and we just kept on as we always have. But then I would not love God. Nor would I love you.