While I was in the seminary, I was assigned as a hospital chaplain at a Baptist hospital for the summer. One night as I was on call, I responded to a request from the ER to visit a dying man. When I arrived at the room, the man was lying on the bed and his family surrounded the bed. I could sense that there was tension in the room. We prayed together, and I reminded the family that the last faculty to go is one's hearing. I told them to take this opportunity to tell him what they wanted him to know. When I left the ER, I certainly thought that he would not last past the night, but a few days later I learned that he was still alive. When I visited him, he was “hanging on” by a thread. The wife followed me outside the room and explained that there had been tension in the family because his children resented the fact that their dad divorced their mother and married her. In recent days, however, as the children watched their dad suffering, his children concluded that he was still hanging on because the family was not reconciled. One by one, each person reconciled with the others and then the children were able to say, "Dad, we are okay now. You can go." In a matter of minutes after the last child spoke with their dad, he passed away peacefully.
It was evident that this earthly father wanted nothing more than for his family to be united in love. He was not satisfied that his children loved him; he wanted his family to love each other. As Jesus said, a house divided against itself cannot stand. This earthly father knew that without love for each other, his children would not be able to handle the difficult grieving process after his death. He knew that they would need each other for support and encouragement.
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| Installing Mezuzah by the doorpost |
Perhaps it was in this context that Jesus quoted from what we know as the Book of Deuteronomy when the scribe asked which commandment is the first. Jesus quoted a command that God gave to the Israelites through Moses, listing what would be necessary to live in the land that God had promised them. The command reads, "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone! Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today." In fact, modern-day Jewish people still consider this command of God to be so important that they have the command written on a small piece of parchment, called mezuzah, and affixed on their door post. Every time they pass through a door with a mezuzah on it, they touch the mezuzah and then kiss the fingers that touched it, expressing love and respect for God. Just imagine as you enter and leave your house, if you were reminded to have a profound reverence and affection for the Lord your God, to give yourselves over to him and to desire to please him above all else. By the way, does this remind you of something -- when we enter any Catholic church and dip our fingers in the holy water font to remind ourselves of our baptismal promises?
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| Mezuzah containing prayers of Shema "Hear O Israel!" |
Jesus doesn't stop at just one command. The second commandment is to love your neighbor as your self. Jesus' implication is that these two commandments are inseparable. Our love for God is made flesh and expressed in our love for others. To love others "as yourself" means to make their well-being as high of a priority as your own well-being. St John said, "if we say we love God, but hate others, we are liars. For we cannot love God, whom we have not seen, if we do not love others, whom we have seen..whoever loves God must also love his brothers and sisters."(1 John 4:20)
Mother Teresa tells us how we can love God whom we have not seen: “Where is God? We believe He is everywhere---He is the creator, He is everything. But where is He to my human eyes? To make it possible for me to see the face of God with my human eyes, He has made Himself the hungry one, the naked one, the homeless one, the lonely one and He says: ‘Whatsoever you do to the least of My brethren you do it to Me.’
What is Jesus trying to teach us? Like that dying earthly father who wanted his family to reconcile and be loving to each other before he departing this world, Heavenly Father desires all of us, his children, regardless of our background, ethnicity, and religious affiliation to reconcile, to help each other, and to unite in love. That earthly father suffered several days in hospital for a reason; his suffering was to bring about reconciliation in his family. Our Lord Jesus underwent incomprehensible suffering on the Cross to bring about reconciliation for the entire humanity. And he is calling us today to look around to see our neighbor with the same compassion he had.
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| After Hurricane Sandy, Blessed Mother's Statue remain standing in Breezy Point, New York |
We notice in recent days the need for reconciliation and loving of our neighbor. As Hurricane Sandy devastated entire cities, people are left homeless, naked, and hungry. Flooded homes, neighborhoods without power, long gas lines are all too familiar to us. Our confirmation class, with your assistance, will again be doing something concrete for victims of the storm. Susan Jumonville, the confirmation leader, has contacted a church in New York and we will send them socks and gloves that will be distributed to those in need. If you are able to help, you may bring the socks or gloves to the office during the week, or next weekend and drop them in the bins we'll have at the back of both churches. We know what it is like to be in that situation. All the more reason we are called to be compassionate neighbors to them.
