These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.
One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him, "Which is the first of all the commandments?" Jesus replied, "The first is this: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these." (Mk 12:28-34)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030824.cfm
It’s always risky asking Jesus questions . . . you usually get more than you bargained for. Which is the first of all the commandments? Jesus takes two verses from different books of the Bible and puts them together . . . love God and love neighbor. Loving God is a cinch . . . it’s the loving neighbor part that trips us up! Looks like we’re going to be working on love of neighbor not only every day of Lent but for the rest of our lives!
Thus says the LORD: This is the nation that does not listen to the voice of the LORD, its God, or take correction. Faithfulness has disappeared; the word itself is banished from their speech. (Jer 7:23-28)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030724.cfm
“Selective hearing” is a universal problem that can have eternal consequences. Perhaps that’s why Lent patiently calls us to LISTEN: If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts (Psalm 95).
Moses spoke to the people and said: “Now, Israel, hear the statutes and decrees which I am teaching you to observe, that you may live . . . Take care and be earnestly on your guard not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen, nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live, but teach them to your children and to your children's children." (Dt 4:1, 5-9)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030624.cfm
As the old grandpa said, “When we stop remembering, we forget.” It is important to remember the graces we have received and to tell them to the next generation.
Peter approached Jesus and asked him, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. (Mt 18:21-35)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030524.cfm
Peter asks the $64,000 question: how often must I forgive? Of course it’s an excellent question for those of us who like to measure forgiveness. Thank goodness the Lord isn’t as stingy with us as we are with others!
Jesus said to the people in the synagogue at Nazareth: “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place” . . . They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. But he passed through the midst of them and went away. (Lk 4:24-30)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030424.cfm
Why did the people of his hometown want to kill Jesus? Because he spoke about God helping foreigners: the widow of Zarephath and Naaman the Syrian. If Jesus were to preach that message today . . . well, he’d get the same reaction.
