March 28, 2025

Friday of the Third Week of Lent,

Lectionary 241

Mark 12:28b-34:

Meditation

The scribe in today's gospel wanted Jesus to cite the most important commandment: to love God wholeheartedly and one’s neighbor as oneself. In doing so, Jesus presented the Christian mission statement. No other words could better capture the spirit and goals of Christian living. But imagine being commanded to love. Can anyone be ordered to love? Love must be freely given, or it isn't true love. Genuine concern and care for others must result from personal choice.

Why then does Jesus say that the first of all the commandments is to love God with our entire being and that the second is to love our neighbors as ourselves? Could it be that he wished to impress this essential commandment upon us? I believe so. Love is vital to our existence because we are created in God's image and because God is love. Jesus then goes on to congratulate the scribe. Practice this and live it. Only then will you reign with God.

"I saw her tears flow, how they flowed and flowed, and halfway to the ground, melted into the light." It is in these terms that Melanie described Mary's tears at La Salette. Mary's crucifix and the tears she shed there are undoubtedly eloquent symbols of the immense love that Jesus and Mary have for us. During her visit to La Salette, Mary expressed her undivided love: "How long a time I have suffered for you!"