Mk 12: 30-34 Not Ours

Thursday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
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By SOPHIE DRUFFNER

One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him,

“Which is the first of all the commandments?”

Jesus replied, “The first is this:

Hear, O Israel!

The Lord our God is Lord alone!

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,

with all your soul, with all your mind,

and with all your strength.

The second is this:

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

There is no other commandment greater than these.”

 

With these commandments, we can conquer the world. We do not even need to remember the exact wording if we can remember one simple phrase--only do what makes God happy, and nothing that makes him sad. What makes God happy? Praying for our friends. Sacrificing for our parents and our family and our loved ones. And praying and sacrificing for those whom we barely know at all. Prayer and sacrifice show that we love our neighbor as ourself--for many of us have often prayed for ourselves--our work, our job, our family, ours, ours, ours. And I like to think that prayer and sacrifice not only invoke God’s help for us, but also reach corners of ourselves that can be illuminated by the light of our love. Prayer helps us to focus our mind and look for ways to creatively approach a problem, while at the same time invoking God’s help. Sacrifice enables us to concentrate and to strengthen our resolve in a particular area.

We love ourselves so much. We buy cute, fashionable clothes for ourselves, we indulge in chocolate and sweets for ourselves, we buy lotions and (I nearly want to write “potions” here) body wash for ourselves, or cologne and manly-smelling lotion, as the case may be. We love ourselves so much.

Although we do donate to charity, and to the Church, we need to look a little further for love of others. I suggest creating a prayer list of friends, loved ones, the pro-life movement, and then praying that each draws closer to Christ every day. Then look for opportunities to help the people around you draw closer to Christ, to love. Give a smile to people that you meet. Try to maintain a happy disposition--God is the king of kings, so you, as his daughter, is the princess of princesses or as his son, the prince of princes! Smile, because to Him, you’re everything! Pray in restaurants. Most people are afraid to pray in public because of the embarrassment factor. Trust me, it’ll be okay. Most people are too focused on themselves to look at what you’re doing. And hey, you might attract people who will help you draw closer to Christ by your acts!

Most of all, don’t give up hope. Hope is the ultimate gift from God, because it is God’s way of saying that everything is going to be okay--just trust him. Terrible things may be going on. If you can help stop them by praying at an abortion clinic or sending money to a charity fighting the evil in the world, then do it. But if you’ve done the most you can do, then just pray. A rosary is sharper than any sword. And remember--even after the world (we) crucified Jesus, he STILL gave us his Holy Spirit to stay with us til the end of time. He didn’t give up hope either. He talked about the world ending, but because it’s not ending right at this moment, don’t give up hope. Be happy for God and share the love with others. For we are hopeful for our future, so let’s be hopeful of others’ future.

A few weeks ago Sophie Druffner graduated from John Paul II High School.  She was valedictorian of her class and received a full scholarship to attend Vanderbilt University.  She will begin this coming Fall.  God speed, Sophie!