Readings: Hosea 14: 2-10; Psalm 81; Mark 12: 28-34
Relationship implies love. Love demands that we seek the good of another. The best example of this is Jesus who has always been in a loving relationship with His Father and the Holy Spirit. The relationship among the three persons in the Trinity has led to our creation and to our redemption. We realize that love and relationship are the essence of Who God is and who we are called to be. We are told that God is love (1 John 4: 8 and 1 John 4:16). \What unites Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is love, synonymous with relationship.
Love is not just a nice feeling. Love is the decision to be there for the other. God has proven this love to us by sending Jesus, the Son of God. It was not always a “nice” feeling Jesus had as He proclaimed the Good News of God’s loving relationship. He was met with opposition, ultimately laying down His life to show how much God wants to be in relationship with us. And today Jesus reminds us that all God asks of us is that we freely choose to give all we have to the deepening this relationship with God. We are asked to love, be in relationship with God, with our whole heart, our whole soul, our whole mind, and our whole strength.
And if we freely choose to give ourselves totally to this relationship with God, we will also freely choose to be in relationship with all those with whom God also desires a relationship, that is every other living being. For in developing a loving relationship with others, we will deepen our relationship with God. It will not be easy. It will demand our full attention, our conscious effort, to devote ourselves to a relationship with God and others. It means that we will have to make a decision “to be” for the other, not just allow things to happen or seek our own pleasure. Love is placing the relationship with others ahead of our own desires. True love is the unconditional giving to another, working for the best for the other.
Our faith is not just religious ceremonies; our faith is a loving relationship. It is the gift God freely offers us, asking us to give it back: our response of freely choosing to develop that relationship through all the joys and sorrows we experience in life. It is saying that our priority is to be in a loving relationship with God and others. That’s His will. This does not mean I have to agree with everyone or like what they say or do, but I respect them as individuals loved by God. Let us give praise and thanks to God for sharing His loving relationship with us peace and love!