April 1, 2011

Read It:
One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him,
“Which is the first of all the commandments?”
Jesus replied, “The first is this:
Hear, O Israel!
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.
The second is this:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these.”
The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher.
You are right in saying,
He is One and there is no other than he.
And to love him with all your heart,
with all your understanding,
with all your strength,
and to love your neighbor as yourself
is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding,
he said to him,
“You are not far from the Kingdom of God.”
And no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Reflect About It: Today's Gospel goes back to Deuteronomy. The Shema, which is: Hear, O Israel!
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.
was something that the Jews felt strongly about. They took it so seriously that they wanted to be close to the Word of God and live it. Do we truly love the Lord with our whole heart, our soul, and our mind and all our strength or do we just give God the left overs?

Pray about it: Dear Lord, help me love you with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind and all my strength, for with out you, I can be nothing.

Live It! Challenge: Today, Love the Lord with all your heart by starting and ending your day in prayer.