Ezekiel 37:1-4 / Matthew 22:34-40
Whatever we may want to think or say about this world, it is still a beautiful world.
We live in this world and we would like to live happily and peacefully in this world.
Yet, we can't deny that there are many contradictions that make us wonder if this beautiful world is coming to an end.
There are wars, violence and bloodshed. There are wicked people who are bent on committing evil as if it is their right.
We see injustice and oppression, with scammers cheating the seniors out of their life savings.
At times, we see this world like the image given in the first reading, a valley of dry bones with no life.
But the Lord God told Ezekiel to prophesy over those bones by saying: Dry bones, hear the Word of the Lord. The Lord says this to these bones: I am now going to make the breath enter you, and you will live.
And eventually the breath entered them, and they came to life, with sinews, flesh and skin, and they stood up on their feet, a great and immense army.
With the Lord’s breath of life and love, the bones came alive and became a people, a sign that God will restore His people again.
In the gospel, Jesus was asked which is the greatest commandment of the Law.
He replied with the commandment of love, to love God and to love neighbour.
When we love God and love neighbour, God will give us that breath of life and love to bring into the world that is cluttered with dry bones.
With God’s breath of life and love in us, we will also be God’s workers who will bring hope that will bring beauty into our world.