St. Dominic Catholic Church

Pastor's Corner

November 4, 2018

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.

Mk 12:30

To answer the question, “what is the greatest commandment?” Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:4.  The love the Father requires, and His Son fulfills through His obedience even to death, is absolutely focused.  It’s a complete dedication to God before everything else: marriage, family, wealth, power, honor, or any other object of our desire.

It’s easy to say, “that’s too demanding, no one can do that,” but it is what Jesus demanded of his disciples, and what he continues to demand from us today. How much do we love God?  What does our behavior at Mass suggest?  I’ve been told of people walking to receive communion while talking on their cell phones, or texting or answering their phones during Mass. And these are older folks, not youngsters! 

If we love God, then we also trust Him.  If God doesn’t seem to answer our prayers, He may be saying, “not yet,” or “I have something better in mind.”  But to abandon prayer, or, worse, pursue what we want through occult means, is to show we want our will to be done, rather than God’s.

When bad things happen, those who love God don’t blame God.  God allowsevil, but does not causeit.  Sometimes bad things happen to us as a consequence of our own sin, or the result of someone else abusing their free will to do something bad to us.  Natural evil, like earthquakes and typhoons are part of the same world that also supports our life with food and water. Sometimes evil we experience may even be the result of demonic activity.  But in all these cases, if we trust God completely and turn to Him, whatever happens to us can be used by Him for our spiritual benefit.