Day of abstinence from meat (age 14 and up)

＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

Hosea 14:2-10

 Return to your God Yahweh,

O Israel! Your sins have caused your downfall.  Return to Yahweh with humble words. Say to him, “Oh you who show compassion to the fatherless forgive our debt, be appeased. Instead of bulls and sacrifices, accept the praise from our lips. Assyria will not save us: no longer shall we look for horses nor ever again shall we say ‘Our gods’

to the work of our hands.”

I will heal their wavering and love them with all my heart for my anger has turned from them. I shall be like dew to Israel like the lily will he blossom. Like a cedar he will send down his roots; his young shoots will grow and spread. His splendor will be like an olive tree, his fragrance, like a Lebanon cedar.

 They will dwell in my shade again, they will flourish like the grain, they will blossom like a vine, and their fame will be like Lebanon wine.  What would Ephraim do with idols, when it is I who hear and make him prosper? I am like an ever-green cypress tree; all your fruitfulness comes from me.

 Who is wise enough to grasp all this? Who is discerning and will understand? Straight are the ways of Yahweh: the just walk in them, but the sinners stumble.

 

Ps 81:6c-8a, 8bc-9,10-11ab, 14 & 17

I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊

Mark 12:28-34

 A teacher of the Law had been listening to this discussion and admired how Jesus answered them. So he came up and asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?”

Jesus answered, “The first is: Hear, Israel! The Lord, our God, is One Lord; and you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. And after this comes another one: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these two.”

 The teacher of the Law said to him, “Well spoken, Master; you are right when you say that he is one and there is no other. To love him with all our heart, with all our understanding and with all our strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves is more important than any burnt offering or sacrifice.”

 Jesus approved this answer and said, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” But after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions.

 

Gospel Reflection：

There is no question that the commandment to worship and honor God is the formost command of all. The uniqueness of Jesus’ answer to the question of the teacher of the Law is that, He linked worship of God to love of God.

It is not borne out of fear. It is powered by the person’s love to his or her creator who loves him or her in return. Love begets love. But this is not a private and exclusive love between creator and creature.

This love must radiate to the love of neighbor on the part of the creature. But God loves not only us but our fellow human beings as well. If we love God, we love those whom God loves. So neighbor is not spatial neighbors but the whole of humanity that is loved by God.