Reflection for Sunday – November 3, 2024

Sr. Karen Dietz, SSJSunday Readings Homilies

Readings: Deuteronomy 6: 2-6; Hebrews 7: 23-28; Mark 12: 28b-34 
Preacher: Sister Karen Dietz

The readings given to us by the Church this weekend are relatively short, but packed with age old wisdom that crosses all boundaries of religious expression, race, gender, and nationality. What we read from the Book of Deuteronomy is that we are called to love God, to love the Divine with all our hearts, minds and strength and from the Gospel of Mark, to extend this love by loving our neighbor as we love ourselves. These two commandments are core to people of all faiths. They are the basis of any bourgeoning relationship with God.

It seems to me these commandments are also the foundation upon which any society or community begins to build and grow. As I pray with these readings I am reminded of the most fundamental of questions:

  • Do I desire to love God with all that I am and all that I have?
  • Who and what is my neighbor?
  • Do I really love myself and recognize myself as made in the image and likeness of God?

The first seems easy – of course I want to love God with my whole being – or do I really? Am I holding anything back? I suspect we are all holding something back from God, and that particular something probably has changed or shifted over the years, and it is only human to hold something for ourselves. It might be our time, resources, a relationship, or an attitude toward an individual or group. By holding back from God, we are not allowing ourselves to fall completely in love. In my current ministry with the elders in a senior living community, I see how, with time, most people get to the point of offering their entire being back to God. There is a freedom with each letting go and many times it is a privilege to witness. The individual eventually is filled with a lightness of spirit that I can only describe as God.

The third question, do I love myself and truly recognize myself as made in the image and likeness of God has gotten so much easier to answer in the affirmative as I have gotten older. And I think the answer to this question goes hand in glove with the first. The more we understand ourselves to be made in God’s image, the more readily we love the person we see in the mirror. And the more we love this person, the more we desire to love the one who created us.

The second question about who and what is my neighbor is perhaps the most important for us as social beings. How we define the neighbor affects how we interact with others and with our world, the decisions we make in every area of our daily living. Our neighborhood is the world in which we live, its people and the earth itself. This quote from Fr. James Martin, SJ captures the scope of this question:

“Here’s what Jesus never said: ‘Feed the hungry only if they have papers.’ ‘Clothe the naked only if they’re from your country.’ ‘Welcome the stranger only if there’s zero risk.’ ‘Help the poor only if it’s convenient.’ ‘Love your neighbor only if they look like you.’”  Facebook, 2018

I recently was impaneled on Grand Jury for the county in which I live. I found that even though I believed myself to have a pretty broad sense of “neighbor,” as I was presented with case after case of the criminal activity in my city, there were times I reacted internally with prejudice rather than responding as a person of faith. Each night of those four weeks my prayer was filled with the stories I had heard and the decisions I had helped make. I am grateful for the experience and for the ways it affirmed and challenged me to look more deeply into my own heart.

This weekend is the last before Election Day. The rhetoric from all candidates, their supporters and detractors is loud and constant. The violence in too many countries to name is relentless. The intensity of the storms and natural phenomena around the world will not let up.

These readings from the Hebrew scriptures and the Gospels are given to us as both a balm to heal and a call to action. We need both. I believe these are the exact words we need to hear at this time. These words will help us develop more discerning hearts. God is calling us to something more and to something greater. How will I and how will you love God, yourself and your neighbor at this time in our lives? How will this be different? We can be about creating a world that is free and filled with that lightness of spirit that is of God.

Sr. Karen Dietz, SSJ
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