Laity Reflections for 30th Sunday In Ordinary Time, Year A
1st Reading: Exodus 22:21-27
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 18:2-3a;3bc-4;47 and 51ab (R. 2)
2nd Reading: 1 Thessalonians 1:5c-10
Gospel Acclamation: John 14:23
Gospel: Matthew 22:34-40
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| Francis Mobougwu |
MY REFLECTIONThe Heart of the Law is Love
1. Exodus 22:21-27 - God takes the side of the vulnerable
God reminds Israel: you were once strangers in Egypt, so do not oppress the stranger. He mentions the widow, the orphan, the poor. These are people with no protector. God says, if they cry to me, I will hear them.
This reading asks us: Who are the strangers, widows and orphans around us today? The house help we shout at, the neighbor we ignore, the poor borrower we shame. God is telling us our worship is empty if we oppress them. Our faith must have a human face.
2. Psalm 18:2-4 - "I love you, Lord, my strength"
The psalmist responds with love. God is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer. When we experience God's protection as the vulnerable do, our natural response is love. We cannot love God if we have not first allowed Him to be our strength.
3. 1 Thessalonians 1:5c-10 - Faith that becomes visible
Paul praises the Thessalonians because their faith was not just in words, but in power and in the Holy Spirit. They turned away from idols to serve the living God, and their faith became a model for others.
Our faith should be seen. People should notice that we are different in how we speak, how we forgive, how we welcome others.
4. Gospel: Matthew 22:34-40 - The greatest commandment
A lawyer asks Jesus to pick the most important of 613 laws. Jesus answers with two that hold all the others:
Love God with all your heart, soul and mind.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Jesus joins them together. You cannot separate them. The Exodus reading shows us how to love our neighbor in concrete terms. The Psalm shows us how to love God. The two commandments are one.
For our personal reflection:
Do I love God with all? Or do I give Him only my spare time on Sunday?
Who is the "stranger, widow or orphan" that God has placed near me that I have been ignoring or oppressing?
If my neighbor had to describe my love, would they call it love?
Love is not a feeling, it is a decision to act for the good of the other, even when it costs us.
May our sharing bear fruit.
Amen.
Shalom!
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Nzeakor Eugenia Ikeanyi
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MY REFLECTIONTeacher, Which Is The Great Commandment In The Law?
Greetings to you all brethren.
My little sharing today comes from the Gospel.
Jesus was tested by the Sadducees just to know what He was to say to them, and Jesus commanded them to love God and their neighbors, for that's the greatest of all the commandments.
Brethren, we have been commanded to love God and our neighbors. The question here is, do you truly love or are you faking it? Love despise hate, love despise killing, love despise evil gangs against your brother, love despise lies, love despise being troublesome, love despise taking what's not yours, love does not harm, love despise not giving care or being the mouthpiece of others when needed, love does not discriminate, love is always there to offer itself whenever is being needed. Love can even take a dangerous risk for the sake of others, not knowing if it's going to come out of it alive or not.
Beloved, Romans 13:10 says - To Love is to obey the whole commandments.
May God give us the Grace to always and truly love, care from our hearts in Jesus Christ Mighty name 🙏.
Blessings always!
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| Augustine Udofa |
MY REFLECTION
Reflection on the First Reading (Exodus 22:21-27)
When God created the world He intended that the world should be a better place for everyone. And so he gave humans the Commandments as a guide. Now, if humans have been faithful in obeying the Commandments, the Kingdom of God (Thy Kingdom come) would have been experienced on earth.
The Lord told the Israelites not to mistreat a stranger living in their midst or an orphan or a widow for if they cry to Him He will surely answer them.
In my local community our forefathers obeyed every beat of these rules. Anyone who happens to break the rules will be regarded as shifting an ancient boundary - an abomination, and will be sent on an exile to another community for a specific number of years or pay a prescribed fine. But today's generations have destroyed everything that were being held sacred. Not only strangers, orphans and widows are being mistreated but their sources of livelihood are forcefully taken away.
May God help our generations.
Reflection on the Second Reading (I Thessalonians 1:5c-10)
In this Scripture St. Paul was trying to extol the Thessalonian Christians for imitating him and his companions in conduct in spite of severe suffering the Thessalonians were going through. They welcomed the message of Christ with joy as given by the Holy Spirit and so made themselves models for other believers in Macedonia and Achaia. Their faith in God was known everywhere and how they turned from idols to serve the living and true God.
Today, how many of us are models worthy of emulation by the up-coming Christian believers. Some of us can attend Mass in the morning and even received Holy Communion and in the evening still have to attend "one powerful crusade by one powerful pastor" for "family deliverance" because according to them, the Mass and the Holy Communion is not powerful enough for family deliverance. May God help us.
Reflection on the Gospel (Matthew 22:34-49)
The Pharisees who were themselves opposed to the Sadducees heard that Jesus had silence or defeated the Sadducees now gather themselves together to ask Jesus tricky questions. It wasn't that they didn't know the law or the greatest of the law. Jesus as God knew their minds, that they were trying to embarrass him still went ahead to give them a genuine response.
How then do we respond when a friend or a brother/sister or a stranger intentionally begin to play on our intelligence by asking questions intending to embarrass us? The right attitude isn't to become angry or irritated but to shame him/her in his/her evil intentions by gently giving correct response and not to give the devil a chance.
Praise God.
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| Angela Igbinazaka |
MY REFLECTION
In this hard economy, these two loves as shown in the gospel are being tested.
Firstly, loving God when money is not enough;
When price of fuel, food, school fees, and house rent is high, it is easy to shift focus from God to money. People become anxious, complain every day, and some even do ritual, fraud, or dishonest things to survive.
But loving God now means, trusting God to provide even when your salary cannot reach, still being honest in your work as an administrator, trader, or student, even when dishonesty seems profitable praying more than you complain.
Secondly, loving your neighbour when everyone is struggling; This is the hardest part now. High cost of living has made many people unkind. We say "Na everybody dey struggle, make everybody answer him papa name."
But Jesus says your neighbour's hunger is your responsibility. For instance, If you sell food, medicine, or services, don't use this hardship to wickedly inflate prices. That is not love. That small portion you have, share it. Check on that elderly person, that widow, that student in your compound. Sometimes two thousand naira or a cup of rice saves a life. For us all, cost of living is high, but cost of kindness is still free. A kind word, patience in the market, helping someone carry load, forgiving debt where you can - this is loving your neighbour.
Finally, in this economy, Government cannot solve everything, and your income may not be enough. But if every compound, every office, every church practiced these two commands: Love God and genuinely help your neighbour, the pain of the cost of living would be reduced by half.
Because hunger hurts less when love is present.
May God grant us the grace to love unconditionally.
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| Paddy Kevwe |
MY REFLECTIONThe simple requirement of us from God is just to be good to ourselves first and then radiate it to others following the golden rule of "Do to others what you would want done to you."
But often time we forget this and want to inflict pain on others maybe because we are more privileged than them or because of their vulnerability.
Let us remember that God sees us all and will reward us all according to our deeds even though his mercy abounds more...but shall we continue in sin that his grace may abide? No...
Don't take advantage of another's vulnerability or challenge because they are the ones whom God watch out for...
Let love lead
Shalom!
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| Comfort Mary Edewor |
MY REFLECTION
The readings all talk about love and our relationships with God and our neighbor.
The First reading is very specific about the group of people who when oppressed can attract the wrath of God., the widows, the orphans, the strangers in our midst. These are vulnerable people who generally have no one to stand up for them. God is talking about those who only look up to God alone to fight their battles. These can also include the very elderly with no support and abandoned disabled. Let us be careful how we treat people who cannot challenge us.
The second reading is admonishing us to live a life that loudly shows who we are, imitators of Christ, for in imitating us, others will get to know Christ more deeply and through them spread the Good News of the kingdom.
The Gospel reading is a summary of what the life of a Christian should be. Loving God necessarily means keeping his commandments while the love of neighbor means loving God enough to do what he requires you to do in relation to our neighbor. You cannot claim to love God but hate your neighbor, because if your love for God is deep and sincere, it would not be difficult to see the image of God in your neighbor.
May the Lord help us to know, love and understand him better in order to apply his word to our daily lives.
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