If you polled my staff, my friends, and my family about the things that I do that drive them crazy, I’d be willing to bet I could guess at least half of the top ten. Towards the top of the list would be an obnoxious habit which I indulge,
on average, about five times a day. Whenever someone on staff, most especially  Fr. Jeff, calmly asks or tells me about something I don’t particularly want to deal with, I immediately tell them to “stop screaming at me,” and then I usually walk out of the room. In short, I am prone to procrastination on difficult matters,       and I frequently must be gently pressed into conflict against my will.

I imagine that part of this comes from the “Can’t we all just get along?” mentality that is prevalent in our culture. There are very few unforgivable social sins anymore, but chief among them is judging others or having the audacity to tell others what to do.  In fact, today’s Gospel is one that could be selectively quoted to support the idea that we should get rid of antiquated moral norms and just do our best to love God and love other people. After all, Jesus says that those are the most important commandments. How can we possibly disagree?
 
The important difference is between how the world understand what it means to love, and how Our Lord and His Church understand it. In that which is essential, unity. In that which is not, liberty. In all things, charity. Our Lord has some words about central things in our lives that are difficult for us to accept. Whether it’s marriage, money, power, or hell, the list of things that Jesus preaches which make us uncomfortable goes on. Therefore, when Jesus tells us to love God and love our neighbor, He is not telling us to just leave God and our neighbor alone and mind our own business. God loves His people, and He wants us to be in a complete and total relationship with Him. Some of the spiritual works of mercy are to
instruct the ignorant and admonish the sinner. We cannot ignore or minimize the fact that Jesus tells us that love of God and love of neighbor are the most important commandments, but we do have to do the hard work of learning to love them in the manner He intends.

As we listen to Jesus’ guidance to the young scribe who wants to follow God perfectly, we should take those same words to heart. Everything that we do as Catholics has to be rooted in the desire to love God both in Himself and by serving His people. As we draw towards the end of another liturgical year and move
towards the holidays, maybe we can look for ways to strengthen our love for God while sacrificing for His people. Find time to draw close to the Lord in prayer and ask for His guidance in how best to love your neighbor, not with the heart of the world, but with Our Lord’s Sacred Heart.
 
Prayers always,
Fr. McC