The Greatest Commandment

August 20, 2021, Friday
Memorial of Saint Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the Church (White)
CYCLE B - YEAR I
Lectionary: 423

Reading I
Ru 1:1, 3-6, 14b-16, 22

Once in the time of the judges there was a famine in the land;
so a man from Bethlehem of Judah
departed with his wife and two sons
to reside on the plateau of Moab.
Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died,
and she was left with her two sons, who married Moabite women,
one named Orpah, the other Ruth.
When they had lived there about ten years,
both Mahlon and Chilion died also,
and the woman was left with neither her two sons nor her husband.
She then made ready to go back from the plateau of Moab
because word reached her there
that the LORD had visited his people and given them food.
Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye, but Ruth stayed with her.
Naomi said, “See now! 
Your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her god.
Go back after your sister-in-law!”
But Ruth said, “Do not ask me to abandon or forsake you!
For wherever you go, I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge,
your people shall be my people, and your God my God.”
Thus it was that Naomi returned
with the Moabite daughter-in-law, Ruth,
who accompanied her back from the plateau of Moab.
They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.

Responsorial Psalm
146:5-6ab, 6c-7, 8-9a, 9bc-10

R.    (1b)  Praise the Lord, my soul!

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
    whose hope is in the LORD, his God,
Who made heaven and earth,
    the sea and all that is in them.

R.    Praise the Lord, my soul!

The LORD keeps faith forever,
    secures justice for the oppressed,
    gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets captives free.

R.    Praise the Lord, my soul!

The LORD gives sight to the blind.
The LORD raises up those who were bowed down;
    The LORD loves the just.
The LORD protects strangers.

R.    Praise the Lord, my soul!

The fatherless and the widow he sustains,
    but the way of the wicked he thwarts.
The LORD shall reign forever;
    your God, O Zion, through all generations. Alleluia.

R.    Praise the Lord, my soul!

Alleluia
Ps 25:4b, 5a

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Teach me your paths, my God,
guide me in your truth.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GOSPEL
Mt 22:34-40

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees,
they gathered together, and one of them,
a scholar of the law, tested him by asking,
“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”
He said to him,
“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart,
with all your soul, and with all your mind.
This is the greatest and the first commandment.
The second is like it:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

REFLECTION:

The gospel today centers the message of Jesus on love; on two loves united in each of us. Love God, love the neighbor - this is the only commandment of Jesus. Without this, all we say we do for him is really done for ourselves. No detail of religious observance is above this law of love. Jesus said this, and lived it in his life. He never allowed the laws of religion overtake the need for love. The message of Jesus is all-embracing and covers all our relationships, both the close relationships of marriage, family and friendship, as well as the call to love the wider world, particularly where the needs are great.

PRAYER:

Strengthen our relationships each other, O Lord! Help us and teach ourselves to be open-minded in our decisions in life.