Deut 6:2-6 / Hebrews 7:23-28 / Mark 12:28-34
As the month of October comes to a close, it may seem that this month has been a rather long month.
There were a few things that weighed us down and we may feel that the going is rather heavy.
The exams are ongoing and certainly the students and their parents are anxiously waiting for it to end.
Then the “Stabilizing Phase” has been extended for another month, and we sigh and we can forget about trying to predict how things will turn out.
And then last weekend, our church has to close and suspend Masses because of a Covid positive case, but thank God we are cleared for this weekend.
All these are like “knee-jerkers” in that we want to go on but we had to jam the brakes and then start picking up again.
If October seems long and heavy, then November may be the silver lining in the dark clouds.
Next Thursday is a public holiday so that is something to be happy about.
And then on Monday is All Saints Day, a day to remember our favourite Saints and to ask them to pray for us.
And if we ever had that privilege of encountering a Saint, then it is truly a blessing.
We may remember that Pope John Paul II visited Singapore in 1986 (November 20th 1986) and he is now a Saint.
Mother Teresa also visited Singapore in 1987. If we had a personal encounter with those two Saints, it would have been a life-changing event.
That brings us to the next day which is All Souls Day, and we remember our departed loved ones. They too had made a mark in our lives and we will surely remember them.
Whether it is a personal encounter with a saint or a fond memory of the departed, we remember with love, and it makes us turn to God who is the source of all love.
In the gospel, Jesus states the two great Commandments, and the first is this: You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.
And the second is this, that you must love your neighbour as yourself.
These two Commandments complement each other. They are like the two sides of the same coin.
To love God is to love neighbour. To love God whom we can’t see is to love our neighbour whom we can see.
A religious nun was writing about her vocation story and she recalled a childhood experience that probably planted the seed for her vocation. She wrote:
I never liked Tracy, though she lived two doors from me, and she is about my age. I thought she looked funny and strange (later I came to know that she has “Downs Syndrome”). I never liked to talk to her, much less play with her.
One day, my mum invited her and her mother over for lunch. My mother made me sit directly across the table to Tracy. I frowned and showed my displeasure but my mum glared at me and she was not going to change the seating arrangement.
I sulked over my lunch. After lunch came the dessert which is mango pie, which was my favourite. My elder brother knew that I was sulking and to taunt me further, took a double share of the pies. There was a piece for everyone at table, no more, no less.
When the tray of pies was handed to Tracy, there was only one piece left and it was obviously for her. Tracy looked around the table and she looked at my empty plate. And then she passed the tray with that last piece of mango pie to me and said only two words, “You take”.
I felt terrible then, but I took it. But something in me made me cut that piece of pie into half and I gave one half to Tracy.
When I did that, something strange happened to me. Tracy didn’t look funny anymore, neither did she look strange. She has become my friend. That was one of my early experiences of love for neighbour.
It is a nice and heartwarming story that tells us that when we love our neighbor, God’s love will grow greater in us. Yes, love for God and love for neighbor are the two sides of the same coin.
Our departed loved ones may bring back fond memories for us. We will also remember those moments when we could have loved them more but we were either too busy or in a hurry.
Those phone calls from our parents, especially from our mothers, are moments that they want to tell us that they care for us.
But our conversations with them are often brief and hurried, and we will recall those moments when we cut it short by saying, “Sorry Mum, but I am busy now. I have to go.”
We remember now, how our mothers would have felt, especially when they have passed on.
But whether it is our mothers, or fathers or neighbours, let it be written in our hearts that we must love them.
How we love on Earth will be echoed in heaven.
Let us remember that nothing is as important as loving God in our neighbour.
When we do that, Jesus will tell us that we are not far from the kingdom of God.