Thursday, March 3, 2016

3rd Week of Lent, Friday, 04-03-16

Hosea 14:2-10 / Mark 12:28-34

Generally speaking, the general criteria for candidates to be admitted to the Seminary (or for that matter, anywhere else actually) is the 3 Hs.

The 3 Hs stands for "Head", "Heart" and "Health"

By "Head" it means that the candidate must have the intellectual capacity to receive the intellectual formation, namely philosophy and theology.

By "Heart" it means that the candidate must have the love for God to serve His people and to follow God whole-heartedly.

By "Health" it means that the candidate must have a certain level of physical fitness so as not to let the health aspect be a constant interruption in his life.

These 3 Hs may sound like common sense, but in the gospel, Jesus used that to form an answer to the question of which is the first of the commandments.

He said: Listen Israel, the Lord your God is the one Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. The second is this: You must love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.

When we love God with all our heart, with all our mind, and with all our strength, then we too must love our neighbour as ourself.

When we do that, then we are already in the kingdom of God.