18th Week, Ordinary Time, Saturday, 08.08.09

1st Reading: Deut 6:4-13 / Gospel: Mt 17:14-20      (2021 / 2023)

Some people would say that love is a feeling, others would say it is an action, yet others would say that love is a decision.

But I would say that love is a feeling, an action and a decision.

But what I said is just a simplified version of what Moses told the people: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart (feeling), with all your soul (action) and with all your strength (decision).

It is a love in totality. It encompasses feelings that must be expressed in action, and reinforced continuosly with decisions.

Yet, like the mustard seed that Jesus used as an imagery in today's Gospel, love is also a growth.

How we understand love in our younger days, we understand love now in much deeper ways.

To say that we love God might be quite easy, as in our love for God is merely confined to feelings.

Now we know that our love for God must be experienced in love for others, and that can be difficult.

There are mountains of resentment, bitterness, anger, disappointment etc to move.

But as long as we love God, these mountains can be moved.

Then we will understand that love is a feeling, an action as well as a decision.